As Time Goes By
by Albatross117
Summary: Each of the pilots has something to discover about the other, but Zorome and Miku are connected in ways they refuse to acknowledge. Challenged by their destiny and circumstances beyond their control, can the two brash young pilots learn to see each other for their authentic selves?
1. A day in the life

Chapter One: A Day in the life

 _ **2300 Hours, APE Coordinated Time**_

 _ **Mistilteinn, Cereuses.**_

Zorome was lying on his back, in the hands of Argentea, staring far into the night sky. It felt like early fall, or what counted for fall-ish weather in the artificial climate that enclosed them. A breeze just strong enough to chill the bones swept through the empty clearing where the Franxx were kept. Zorome was only wearing pajamas and a thick black overcoat emblazoned with the 13ths logo. His eyes traced the sky, marveling at the vastness of space, wondering if there was anyplace out there as beautiful and perfect as Mistilteinn.

It was quiet, almost unnervingly still, but it gave him time to think and dream. He traced the outline of Argentea in the sky, connecting the stars in ad-hoc constellations, adding the other Franxx as he went along, until he saw a mosaic in the sky. All of them together, it was all he ever wanted, even with Hiro back in the mix and his weirdo partner Zero-Two. Of course, becoming an adult would be even more awesome than hanging out with the other parasites. The adults all seemed to have such perfect lives, being able to come and go as they please, living and working with Papa, and most importantly, they got to be in love.

He wasn't exactly sure what this love thing was all about, but Zero-Two said something about caring really deeply for another person and them belonging to you. Zorome felt someway about that but he couldn't quite place it. He liked messing around with Futoshi, he really liked fighting Klaxosaurs in Argentea, and the girls…man that day at the beach was amazing. He wanted to go back and bask in the sun and splash around in the water again…and see…well, see the beach. Yeah, maybe he didn't understand it as much as it seemed Hiro did. Honestly it made him a little mad at the loser.

Killing Klaxosaurs was something he liked to do. Destroying those monsters always made him feel on top of his game; protecting the adults and humanity from those awful beasts. Becoming an adult like Hachi and Nana meant taking on every single one of them and being the undisputed Klaxosaur killing parasite champion! He was going to train harder than ever tomorrow so he could beat Hiro's kill count on their next mission. He was going to show them all up, even his own partner. He was going to show Miku just how much she needed to catch up to him, and not the other way around.

He felt the sting of Argentina's cold steel on his bare skin. It was beginning to get too cold for comfort. As he made his way down from his position perched in his Franxx hands, he grabbed the blades he'd cut down countless enemies with, "I swear were going to go be champions together". As he let go, he felt a sudden shock in his hands, at first they felt numb but than pleasant warmth came over them. He stuffed them in his coat pockets in order to keep them that way, and then quickly made his way back to the house, well aware he was violating the curfew big time.

* * *

 _ **0005 Hours, APE Coordinated Time**_

 _ **The boarding house, Cereuses.**_

Miku awoke in a cold sweat, with a searing pain in her hands that's seemed to vanish just as quickly as it came. It wasn't the first time either, in the last few weeks of fighting, that she had disturbing restless nights of sleep. Thankfully her roommate Kokoro was too much of a steadfastly deep sleeper to notice her nighttime troubles. She never got sick, and always felt better during the waking hours of the day, so it puzzled her as to why she was in the state she was. She decided to get up and take a short walk to the bathroom to freshen up and to the kitchen to get a snack.

She donned a pink striped robe and her bunny slippers and quietly slipped out of her room and headed down the hall to the girls bathroom. Having adjusted to the dark of night, and forgoing a candle, she could see clearly out the otherwise opaque windows to the central court as she walked along the hallway. She didn't give it too much thought until her heart skipped a beat when she saw something moving out of the bushes towards the house. "Holy shit!" she said as she instinctively ducked under the banner. After a second, she peered over the windowsill so she could assess the threat before she alerted the others for help fending off intruding Klaxosaurs. "Oh geez" she exclaimed when she saw what it really was lurking outside, "That fucking idiot nearly gave me a heart attack by violating the curfew" she continued, letting out a loud and rueful sigh. _What on earth is Zorome doing outside at this hour?_ She thought to herself. Just then as she made her way to the central foyer, she heard the door open and then quietly shut. The boy's wing was on the other side of the house, so she wouldn't have to see him if she didn't want to, but her instincts told her to follow him a little longer.

When she peeked out from around the last corner before you entered the girl's wing, she once again confirmed it was Zorome, rather poorly dressed for the weather, slowly making his way up the stairs. As he came to the top of the stairs he stopped and turned to look at the girl's wing. Miku let out a quiet but still quite audible "eep!" as he looked directly at where her head had been peeking out only a second ago. However, she breathed a sigh of relief when after a while she heard his footsteps retreating further away.

Miku quickly made up for lost ground, hesitating only slightly when she crossed the sacred boundary into the boys wing which she and Zorome had fought so bitterly over when he had….She shivered at the thought of that dumb little boy looking at her that way. When she found Zorome again he was taking one last look out of the hall window opposite his bedroom door. He reached out his hand as if he were longing to be closer to someone, he held out an open hand before he closed it tightly into a fist. "Goodnight Argentea" he said before he finally turned in for the night.

 _Was that where he was in the middle of the night, with his Franxx?_ It seemed utterly silly to Miku, didn't they spend enough time in those iron beasts during battles and training? She turned around and marched back to the main foyer more confused than she had ever been about her partner. He never made any sense to her, ever since they were paired up. They had known each other since they were children, but she never thought of him as anything other than a brat. He wasn't mature like Goro, or broodingly attractive like Hiro, he was just Zoro. He was hers and for better or worse…often very worse…they killed a lot of Klaxosaurs together. That was it, the mission, she knew he didn't care who was with him as long as he got to ride, and she didn't particularly mind either way. Maybe she didn't need to understand Zorome to be a good parasite. Why waste time on a guy who's always going to confuse you, keep something from you. "Hmpf, well ill see that idiot at breakfast, if he's even alive at 730".

After she had a small snack, she went to the bathroom to clean off the sweat that had turned into a sticky and unpleasant mess. "Thank god Zorome didn't see me like this, I look awful, I hope he never sees me without my makeup on" she said into her mirror before cleaning up with a wet rag. It was almost one in the morning by the time she returned to her room to find Kokoro none the wiser, and pleasantly drooling onto her pillow. Miku smiled at her roommate; _at least some people never do strange things at night_ she thought as she giggled to herself and got back under her covers. _Who is that boy?_

* * *

 _ **0730, APE Coordinated Time**_

 _ **The boarding house, Cereuses.**_

Zorome was the last to awaken and join the 13th at breakfast. As he slowly made his way into the dining room with a loud yawn, he barely registered the other occupants of the room.

"You look especially tired Zorome, bad nights rest?" asked Goro sipping on his coffee.

"You shouldn't neglect your rest, it'll make it hard to pilot if we get called out on a mission" chastised Ichigo.

"Yeah yeah, will you two quit your whining I'm just trying to eat, jeez" replied Zorome, annoyed as he sat down for some bread and jam.

"Some of us need our beauty rest, but I can see by the way you look, you didn't get any last night" teased Miku.

"What was that pinky? As if you're something to look at" Zorome retorted.

Miku stood up and slammed her hands down on the table, "What was that loser?"

Zorome got up and marched over to his auburn haired partner and looked her right in the eyes. "I said you're not very cute, meeekuuu" he said tauntingly.

"God, why was I cursed with as big a childish twerp as you are for a partner" she said, and with that, they both began incomprehensibly arguing with one another, wild errant hairs dueling like two swordsman locked in combat.

Their arguing would have continued all morning if it weren't for Hiro and Zero-Two entering the room, hands embraced, sitting down and beginning to feed each other food. "Say ahhh darling" said Zero-Two as Hiro made the requisite noises and was rewarded with a honey covered roll lovingly stuffed in his mouth by the love of his life.

"Awwww, I wish I had someone to feed me again" sighed Futoshi as he cast furtive glances as Ikuno. For her part, Ikuno couldn't be bothered by her new partners' old hang-ups and continued to read her book as if Futoshi hadn't said anything at all.

Mitsuru and Kokoro both looked at them with muted envy, but neither had figured out exactly why they felt that way.

Goro and Ichigo both politely cleared their throats but Zero-Two and Hiro didn't even register their small attempt at indicating how everyone was gawking at them in their own peculiar way.

Zorome and Miku were also both mesmerized by the gratuitous display being put on before them. As they looked on in wonder, they both slowly let go of each other's bodies that they were attempting to destroy. For a moment, they forgot about their squabbles and engaged in the only thing both of them loved, judging Hiro and his girlfriend.

"Doesn't it just disgust you" said Miku squinting her eyes evilly and grinding her teeth.

"Stop! Stop that you two…you're not supposed to…ugh" Zorome said taking his eyes off of the offending couple. "Partners aren't supposed to do that kind of thing!"

Zero-Two gave him a sly look "Oh is that so" she said as she got up and approached him. "And I suppose you never think about doing these things with Miku?" Zorome froze stock still and Zero-Two laughed and sat back down. As he turned to Miku, he saw nothing but fire burning in her eyes "I'd kill you" she deadpanned, Zorome gulped hard.

"My darling and I are just enjoying our time together, I suggest you all do the same" Said Zero-Two, "Come on darling, let's go for a walk" and with that she dragged Hiro out of the room. The rest of the room, pistils and stamen, spent the rest of breakfast quietly starring into their food for fear that even looking at the opposite sex would get them labeled a pervert.

* * *

 _ **1400 Hours, APE Coordinated Time**_

 _ **The Boarding House, Cereuses.**_

"Those two were in rare form today, don't you think?" said Ikuno dryly.

"I know it's nothing, but I can't help but feel their animosity will affect the mission one day" replied Ichigo.

"That's the officer in you Ichigo, always seeing things from 10,000 feet, instead of 10 inches".

Ichigo crossed her arms, "Of course I have to worry about the partnerships, Mitsuru and you got along so well it almost destroyed the team" she said as a sly grin tugged at her lips.

Ikuno looked away, "That was none of my doing; Futoshi is a more than capable Stamen" she said trying to avoid the ribbing she knew she was in store for.

They walked down the hallway towards the library, looking for some quiet place to waste away the days they spent without going on a mission. An occurrence which had become more and more frequent as the specter of a large operation loomed on the horizon.

"Do you feel it, Ikuno?" asked Ichigo pensively.

"What" she replied curiously?

"The bonds that Zero-Two talked about? Like the one she has with Hiro, do you ever feel anything like that?"

Ikuno sat on the question, thinking for a bit. Not noticing the growing anxiety in her friend as she didn't answer for a long while. "No" she replied strongly, startling Ichigo with her sudden break in silence, "nothing like them".

Ichigo breathed out a deep sigh, "That's a relief; at least I can count on you to not develop any strange hang-ups". A smile began to spread on her cheeks.

Ikuno glanced at her feet for a while as they walked, trying to avoid Ichigo's gaze "And who is developing a hang-up?"

"Them of course" she replied tersely. "Zorome and Miku have always fought, and always been reliable teammates, but something is changing with them". She continued furrowing her brow.

Ikuno mulled it over in her head. She often got a glimpse of the action from the back of the stage. Quiet and a little nondescript, she frequently saw the subtle gestures and lingering gazes that most thought went unnoticed as the attention lie elsewhere. Zorome and Miku were no exception. They were always loud and at each other's throat, but they shared a commiseration for the longings and desires of others. Whenever the subject of the future or togetherness came up, Zorome almost invariably looked to Miku first. Miku didn't often show affection for Zorome, but never indicated a desire to be partners with anyone but him, even when she had every opportunity to do so.

"Ikuno, are you alright? Have I lost you?" asked Ichigo after what seemed like countless minutes of silence.

Ikuno felt slightly embarrassed at her aloofness, lost in thought as she was, and tried her best to hide it. "Ah sorry, I was just thinking about your question", she paused "No, they don't seem to feel any different for each other than they always have".

"Ah well that's a relief, now I've just got to whip Hiro and Zero-Two into shape" she said with a hint of enthusiasm in her voice.

Ikuno laughed, she couldn't help herself, it was the only way to conceal her true feelings. She didn't like lying to Ichigo…well; she didn't like keeping all the facts from Ichigo. After all, she hadn't said anything that wasn't true, Zorome and Miku had always had deep hidden feelings for one another, they just did a really bad job at showing it. And in her estimation, that hadn't changed today, or yesterday, and wasn't going to happen tomorrow either. She couldn't bother Ichigo with all that detail if she hadn't noticed herself already; she had too much going on with the team's missions and APE to deal with them right now.

* * *

 _ **2000 Hours, APE Coordinated Time**_

 _ **Goro's Room, Cereuses.**_

"This low operations tempo is starting to get a little dull don't you think?" asked Goro openly.

"Hmm, I do miss piloting Strelizia with Zero-Two, but we've gotten to have so many good times together lately, it's hard to want to go back to fighting, even if it is our duty" replied Hiro musingly.

Goro thought along similar lines, "Last time we were in serious combat, I was stuck in that giant exploding jellyfish, if it wasn't for Ichigo I would have been toast" he said as he chuckled at the memory, which had become a fond one for him.

"If it wasn't for you, Ichigo might have been toast"

Goro let out a sigh as he rested his head on his arms behind him like a pillow, "I guess you're right, I was so afraid we might both lose our lives that I just had to save her" he paused, "Looking back she was right to yell at me, I never rely on her like I should".

It was silent for a bit. "We're not like you and Zero-Two; we don't depend on each other like that".

"I think she depends on you more than you know Goro" replied Hiro, "she's always trying to keep the team together, but you're the only one who tries to keep her together".

Goro couldn't say anything; he couldn't think or feel anything at the moment. Hiro didn't know what he'd said to Ichigo that day, how much relief he'd felt to get it out, but how much dread he felt letting it linger day after day. They'd just continued on with their lives, albeit with a few more awkward silences and furtive glances. He couldn't say he hated it entirely though, just seeing her cheeks light up red with a hint of embarrassment when those awkward encounters did happen made him smile.

Eager to change the subject he brought up the latest inMistilteinn gossip. "Zero-Two really gave it to Zorome today didn't she?"

Hiro laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head, "yeah, she is as straight forward and uninhibited as always. She knows so much more about the world than we do. Even if she says it in her own blunt way, I think she's right, we should all be with who we want to be with before it's too late".

"Yeah, but I think their time spent training in Argentea is more than enough togetherness for the both of them" Said Goro with a laugh.

"And you and Ichigo?" replied Hiro, trying to set his roommate back on his own issues.

"Wah? Of course we enjoy each other's company, I would never want to be without Ichigo, or any of you for that matter" protested Goro.

Hiro shook his head seeing as he was not going to make any more progress than he already had. "I'm going to go draw with Zero-Two in her room for a bit, I'll try not to disturb you when I come back".

Goro gave him an affirmative head nod, and said his good nights to Hiro, thankful for the chance to be alone with his thoughts.

Suddenly he sat upright just as Hiro was leaving the room, "Hey Hiro!" he said urgently. Hiro turned around and poked his head back into their shared room, "yeah?" he replied.

Goro scratched the back of his head and had a sheepish grin on his face, "Drawing doesn't mean anything more than it sounds like right?" he teased.

This time it was Hiro's face that turned red in embarrassment. "Goro!" he yelled and slammed the door shut, "Zero-Two and I aren't like that" he protested.

As he heard Hiro storm down the hall, Goro turned over to go to sleep and pulled the blankets over himself. He had the widest smile you could imagine on his face and his heart felt light as he drifted off into deep slumber.

* * *

(a/n) Thanks for Reading, this is my first written fan fiction, although I have read them for many years. I am excited to try my hand at writing in this (so far) small community. Would love all the tips you have to offer. See you next time!


	2. Re:learning

Chapter Two: Re:learning

 _ **0900 Hours, APE Coordinated Time**_

 _ **The Command Center, Cereuses.**_

"The goal of this training operation is simple, to increase the connectivity of the parasite pairs through constant medium stress combat" announced Hachi in his no-nonsense manner of speech.

"Dr. Franxx believes it may be possible for each of the Franxx to evolve superior combat abilities through finely-tuned high para-capacity syncing" he continued.

All of the assembled pilots gasped; each of them taking a second to digest the news they were hearing and how it would uniquely affect their partnership. Zero-Two merely had a knowing smirk on her face as she sensed the excitement and discomfort all of them felt at that exact moment.

"What do you mean evolve, aren't the Franxx machines?" asked Mitsuru confused, "They can't just change on their own".

"They are bio-reactive machines, with the potential to react differently depending on the level of sync….at least that's the theory according to Dr. Franxx" replied Hachi.

"Recall Strelizia from your last battle, how she turned a brilliant red, instead of her normal white!" called an unknown voice from behind the group.

Just then, an older man with cybernetic features wearing a long white coat and holding an ornate cane entered the room and approached the group.

"What you saw was an advanced form of Strelizia" he continued, "Much like how the Franxx transform into stampede mode when only one partner attempts to operate it alone, they can transform into a third stage of operation when the partners are highly synced".

"Doctor, what are you doing here?" demanded Nana at the sudden appearance of Dr. Franxx.

"It is wise to inform them directly about what they are about to attempt. It is also necessary that I observe the training closely to gain insights should we succeed or fail in this endeavor today".

All of the parasites looked around at each other, unsure about how to react to this news. _Were they really going to be able to transform, when they already had so much trouble with team cohesiveness and partner relationships_ thought Ichigo, not too confident of their chances.

"Darling! We're going to be so much closer now. We're going to take ourselves to the next level!" yelled Zero-two excitedly. Hiro agreed with a joyful grunt and embraced Zero-Two in a hug.

"Um Doctor, how is more fighting going to bring us closer in sync?" asked Miku tentatively "we've already fought them quite a bit and nothing has happened".

Dr. Franxx grabbed his chin and mulled the question over for a second. "It may do nothing right away, but we believe partners reach their highest sync capacity when intensely focused on reaching the same goal, this requires a closeness of the senses and minds which are sharpened by combat".

"Practically unknown to you all, every time you sync in your Franxx you are transmitting unconscious pieces of your psyche onto your partner. This along with the bio-multiplying interface you are hooked into when piloting allows the simultaneous control and operation of the Franxx which makes them the deadly machines that they are. By increasing the psychic link between pistil and stamen, we can supercharge the amount of energy stabilized within the machine and unlock even great powers"

"WOW! I never knew our Franxx had such powerful potential locked away in them. I wonder what kind of super cool power-ups we could find" gushed Zorome. His eyes sparkled with desire at the prospect of a path for him to outclass Hiro once and for all. All he had to do was prove that they deserved the number one pilot spot by transforming Argentea first.

He threw his first into the air excitedly, "Miku! We have to increase our…whatever, so we can turn Argentea into a super badass machine, way cooler than Strelizia!"

"Hold it buzzard brain" says Miku annoyed "we don't even know if this will work, I don't know how to…you know…even do that with you".

"Quit your worrying Miku, after all, you've got Zorome the great as your partner, just let me handle everything!" replied Zorome.

"Ugh" she moaned in semi-pretend disgust at her partners self aggrandizing antics, "you doing everything is part of the problem you baka" she quietly whispered to herself, not feeling strong enough to confront him.

Just then he grabbed her hand and started running towards the launching bay dragging her along for the ride. With his sudden tug, she almost lost her footing in the high arched pistil uniform she was wearing, "WHA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" she yelled as Zorome kept pulling her along, paying no mind to either her protests or the uncharacteristic physical closeness they were sharing. Miku was unprepared for Zorome's confident embrace of her, considering his usual boyish squeamishness at 'piloting' her, that had been on display since the start-up ceremony. However, after a few awkwardly placed steps, she was able to meet his stride and at least keep up with him if she couldn't get him to stop.

Goro gave Ichigo a confident smile, "let's do our best together ok?" he said while giving her a thumbs up. He was sure it would be no problem for them. They both had low parasite numbers, which indicated a high level of natural talent, and outside of Hiro and Zero-Two, they had the closest working relationship. Delphinium's agility and striking power was amongst the best in the squad, and if powered up could be an even more deadly foe than Strelizia.

Goro had put almost everything out on the table when he confessed his feelings to Ichigo after the jellyfish battle, but her naturally reserved nature kept her from indicating even an understanding of his feelings. If what Dr. Franxx said was right, if their psyches really do unconsciously transmit to one another, perhaps he might glean an inkling of how she felt. However, his natural sense of propriety scolded him for scheming to take advantage of their current situation.

Futoshi cautiously approached his relatively new partner, "Ikuno, I…I know we haven't piloted together for very long, we probably won't sync like the others anytime soon, but I'll try my best for you" he said, trying to bridge the gap of feelings with his new partner, a problem he never had with her predecessor until that bastard Mitsuru got in the way.

Ikuno felt similarly, or rather didn't really feel much at all, which is what she suspected Futoshi would have said if he were being more honest with himself. She was a replacement in his eyes; the Hobson's choice of partners after Kokoro left for Mitsuru. Their connection had been effective if uninspired, built more on necessity than mutual affection. She imagined it would be slow going, but she hadn't lied when she said he was a very good stamen, he had a tenderness at the controls that Mitsuru never did; maybe they could build on that.

Neither Kokoro nor Mitsuru reacted with any visible emotion. It wasn't either of their styles' to be particularly expressive, and in addition they hadn't yet exactly connected the dots on the feelings they held for each other. They looked at each other with a hint of happiness that they could become closer, without betraying that they were both much more excited than they wanted to let on to their partner.

"The operation will begin in two hours, as the plantation reaches a low-density Klaxosaur anomaly. This should provide us with a manageable threat without the fear of coming across any Gutenberg-class or higher enemies" Hachi said, trying to wrap up his briefing before any more than two of his subordinates ran away without any idea what the plan was.

Nana jabbed him lightly in the side to get his attention. "I think you lost all of them the moment they heard the opportunity to get into the head….or better yet, the pants of their partner" she whispered conspiratorially to her flat-affected colleague.

Hachi merely gave the same deadpan reaction he had to most news, "that is against regulations" he said dryly.

Nana eyed him deviously "I remember when you didn't care much for regulations yourself partner".

He turned away from Nana and began to walk back to the operations room, but stopped just before he left the room and turned his head, "Ancient history" was all he said, and left. All Nana could offer in reply was a smirk and a knowing grunt of displeasure.

 _ **1130 Hours, APE Coordinated Time**_

 _ **Klaxosaur Anomaly, Earth.**_

The 13th had been cruising in formation for about half an hour when they reached the anomaly. Like much of the rest of earth's surface it was barren desert, but had several abandoned Magma energy mines from previous generations, each with deep bore holes drilled into the desolate surface, the perfect nesting place for Klaxosaurs. In many ways this would be similar to previous 'sweep and clear' operations which they had undertaken before. But now they could do it with such practiced ease, they hardly needed to stick together to defeat Conrad and Moho class enemies.

"Alright" Hachi came in over the radio, "split up and clear each of the mines of any Klaxosaur presence".

"As you go" Dr. Franxx chimed in, "Use the controls and stay in tune with your partner as much as possible, once you get the feel for the deeper connection on simple maneuvers such as movement and weapon use, you'll ease into a more complex interaction".

Strelizia took off at high speed for the nearest mine complex, its pilots eager to recreate the transformation they had created at the siege of the Gran Crevasse. "Darling, don't get too serious, just relax and be that little perv I know you are" Said Zero-Two with an evil smile. "Hey! I'm not…not that pervy Zero-Two" protested Hiro weakly. Once they had descended into the mine it was quite some time before their sensors picked up any Klax activity. Like she suggested, Hiro kept a light grip on the controls, and tried to let his instincts take over so he could focus on the energy connection between him and Zero-Two. As they went along he felt a slight tingle throughout his body, and felt a sense of déjà vu as if he was seeing the same thing twice in quick succession, but other than that had failed to reproduce anything at all like what had preceded their previous transformation. "Come on Dahling!" said Zero-Two, shaking her butt in her skin tight suit to get a rise out of her partner, "you know you wanna get inside of me" she teased. "Oh my god Zero-Two, quit playing around" replied at flustered Hiro as he put his hands over his eyes to block the show being put on before him. Although he couldn't help but peek through his fingers a tiny bit.

* * *

High performance capability was the thing you came to expect from the pilots of Delphinium as the lead Franxx of the unit. Goro and Ichigo's technical skills as pilots were unmatched amongst the parasites, only outshone due to the miraculous feats performed by the star-crossed lovers in Strelizia. Goro was a patient yet firm controller, and Ichigo had an invariantly strong and even bio-physical connection with the machine. As such, when it came to executing Dr. Franxx's order to build up from fundamentals they were making great strides. But no matter how streamlined and efficient their duel movements became, they were stuck at the edge of moving beyond the limitations of the machine.

"Goro, when we get into close combat with the Klaxosaurs, don't hesitate to be a little rough, I know you don't want to hurt me, but I don't mind. We have to be unified in our goal together".

He knew she was right, but it pained him to see her get hurt even a little. It was an awfully bad trait for a solider to have. "Alright, I'll be less inhibited in the future" he replied, trying to formulate in his mind, exactly how he would make that work in practice. As they rounded the next corner, the small corridor they had been traveling down gave way to a large domed area. It was from the opposite entrance across the way that they spotted their next target; a larger sized Moho-class Klax that had a thick compact body with powerful legs and four arms.

Without hesitation, the Klaxosaur in one giant leap closed the distance to Delphinium, catching Ichigo and Goro off guard, forcing them to raise their spears in a defensive position as the Moho wailed on them. Thinking on his feet and hoping Ichigo would follow his lead, he tossed the spears away and sweep kicked the legs of the Moho out from under it, brining the Klax to the ground. Instead of retrieving the spear, Delphinium straddled the prone Klaxosaur and drove its hand straight into the heart of the beast, and ripped out its core spilling massive amounts of its royal blue blood all over Delphinium.

"Good thinking Goro, let's not be afraid to get messy, a little blood never hurt anyone" she said, glad Goro had taken her advice to get more hands on with the beasts.

"I never knew you were such a killer Ichigo, it's like I'm seeing a whole new side of you" teased Goro.

"Hmpf, there are plenty more sides of me your going to have to see if we want to sync properly" she replied matter-of-factly.

Goro couldn't help but blush at the double-entendre she apparently was completely oblivious to making by the level of confidence in her voice; Ichigo not exactly one to make dirty jokes, even if she knew how. He let his mind wander to the idea of the many 'sides' of Ichigo, trying his best not to think lewd thoughts, but utterly failing. Something his partner couldn't know, but somehow intuited anyway.

"Are you there Goro? I hope you're as locked in as I am"

After hearing Ichigo's voice in his head, Goro reverted back to reality, a bit dazed but feeling a lot lighter. "uhh…yeah, sorry I was just trying to concentrate". He weakly replied, unable to form a more coherent lie.

"I really felt it there for a second, especially when you went quite, I don't know what you were concentrating on, but it worked!" she said ecstatically, happy that their work had finally paid off in some small measure towards evolving.

 _If only you knew Ichigo, I doubt you'd be as blissful, or as proud of me as you are right now. Damn, Zero-Two might be right, maybe it does benefit a parasite to be a little pervy. But I wonder, does it work if only one side is…or maybe….._

Goro was broken from his train of thought again by the necessity of combat. They were not nearly finished clearing out his mining complex, and the bloody death of that Moho had attracted many more of his friends by the stench of its blood.

Vowing to try similar tactics to the ones they just used, the pilots of Delphinium went to work tearing through the Klaxosaur hoards with their bare hands.

* * *

Zorome gripped tightly on the controls as he raged through the countless Conrad-class riff raff infesting their tunnel. Slashing each one with ferocious intensity and turning his enemies into bloody blue ribbons. He shouted out with joy as he whipped Miku around at break neck speed, enjoying the sanguinary hunt.

"Would you quit it?! You're going to give me back problems if you keep tugging me around like that" complained Miku at the rag doll treatment she was being put through by her co-pilot.

 _He's never been nearly this forceful, or this tight on my body. I wonder what's gotten into him. The only upside is now that he takes the controls seriously, I can feel a slight improvement in our motions. But I can't tell if it's both of us or just all him doing it._

"Just hold on Miku, I've got to destroy all these to prove we're the best pilots on the team!" he continued, enthusiasm clearly unabated.

She couldn't help but get a little high off his confidence. What he lacked in maturity or attractiveness he sure made up for in his determination to be the greatest and not in a fake way either, Zorome walked the walk.

"WE are Not going to even be moving by the end of today if you keep going at the pace you are, my body is the one that takes the hits here you know" she pouted, wondering if Zorome even realized that she had a body sometimes..you know…other than one he could peep on. The thought of which made her face turn red as he continued to push her rear end around in order to plunge Argentea's golden claws into yet another hapless small Klax.

By the time he was done, and finally eased up on the controls, she was incredibly tired. Even though her back hurt terribly, she couldn't help but feel momentary euphoria that Zorome had finally let go and she could rest for a second. Zorome for his part was taking a sitting victory lap, stretching his arms way above his head and resting them behind his head, striking a very pompous and self congratulatory pose.

"YES! I felt that coursing through my veins, I'm almost at my limit, but we must have pushed super close to evolving if we are both close to our limit"

 _He's at his limit? He doesn't even look phased; he must be covering it really well. I know I'm in pain but I didn't stop to think Zorome was giving every bit as much as I was. He certainly has the physical prowess down, probably the best brawler on the team._

Just then, an extra large Moho found its way to the pile of corpses that were his former comrades. It was almost completely spherical, and appeared to move by rolling. Upon sighting Argentea, the round Klaxosaur turned a dark shade of red and began moving at high speed towards the two pilots.

"Heads up Miku looks like we've got company" said Zorome as he grabbed the controls.

The suddenness of the grasp, coupled with her sensitive semi-euphoric state, made her cry out in a moan reminiscent of the first time they had powered up together. Needless to say, Zorome was wide eyed, and his grip on her slackened momentarily.

 _She cannot make noises like that or we are never going to evolve. How am I supposed to stay focused and concentrate on her, when if she makes those damn sounds it drives me….._

He didn't have time to finish that thought as he reasserted his grip and dodged the rolling attack of the Klaxosaur just in time. As he dodged he saw the few exposed blades which must be its main weapons when it charges its enemies. _Damn, those look sharp, and that red color is pretty unusual. This can't be a normal Klax._

"Are you ready Miku, we've got to slow that bastard down" Zorome said, not yet exactly sure how they were going to accomplish that. "Let's try head on first!" he yelled. He thrust the controls of Argentea forward and ran at the Klaxosaur at full speed. The Moho which at this point had stopped some distance away, again turned read and rolled at high speed toward Zorome and Miku. Just as it closed the distance it turned a deep red color once again. Zorome gave out a thunderous battle cry as he cocked back Argentea's arm and slammed her claws into the skin of the enemy, or at least he tried.

"Fuck! The claws didn't even penetrate it" Zorome said angrily, "What gives Miku?".

"What makes you think it's my fault? I was trying to rip through it too" she retorted indignantly.

Argentea and the Klax now once again stood at opposite ends of a long straight tunnel. There was nowhere for either of them to go, they were going to have to finish this fight one way or another. Argentea charged at the Moho again, willing to give the frontal option another try.

"What are you doing Zorome, we know this won't work" complained Miku.

As they closed the distance to the rolling Klax, instead of attacking directly with the claws, Zorome pulled the controls upward and made Argentea jump into the air above the Klax. As he did, he saw a small port appear occasionally as the klax rolled, but it vanished after it turned red. Once he landed on the opposite side, he readied himself to go again.

"Did you see that Miku?" asked Zorome, confident that she must have.

"When it turns red, it becomes impenetrable, we have to attack its weak spot before it activates" she replied, clarifying the main points of what they had discovered.

"Exactly, but it activates pretty quickly when we approach, we're going to have to close the distance in an instant if we want to strike" Zorome said, understanding what needed to be done, but not sure if Argentea was even capable of the tactic they were describing. If the rest of the group had been there, they could have just pinned it down while Strelizia stabbed it, but that wasn't an option now.

"Miku, do you think we can make Argentea move that fast?" he asked his partner, hoping for a miracle from her.

She had a despondent look on her face; "I'm honestly not sure, we're just going to have to try our best, if it fails….." she trailed off, unsure of how to finish her thought.

Zorome gritted his teeth tightly. _Damn, Miku is pretty tired and scared, but I don't know what to tell her either, were just going to have to put everything we have into it._ Zorome tightened his grips on the controls, giving Argentea just enough thrust to move slowly towards the enemy Klaxosaur.

 _This is now or never Argentea, give Zorome and I all the strength we need to defeat this monster_. Miku tried to focus on her connection with Argentea, to transmit as much reaction to the controls for Zorome. She would give every last bit she had, even if that wasn't much at this point in the operation.

Zorome was sweating trying to put everything into this one final move. He pushed the controls forward and started increasing speed, building up to cruising speed. The Klax likewise began to spin and started making its way towards the pair. Zorome waited until the last possible second as the Klax approached, knowing he had an absolute advantage in maneuverability. While the Klax was in a ball it had no capability to parry or block an attack; its only defense was the red shift which it would activate in time if they jumped too early.

Miku couldn't do anything other than trust her partner. As she surveyed the tunnel in front of her, they were flying past every jump point at a blinding speed. _If he waits too much longer, we're not going to have adequate room to get above the ball before it squashes us she_ thought anxiously to herself. She shook her head and put such thoughts out her mind. Zorome was a good pilot and knew what he was doing, she argued to herself.

Just then she felt a surge of energy run down her spine and through to her legs. She instinctively pushed back on the control pedals at her feet, unable to maneuver her body any other way, as what felt like lighting coursed through her. The next thing she knew, she was 20 meters in the air, and face to face with a whirling blade storm of Klaxosaur flesh. Time seemed to slow down as she heard the blood curdling roar of Zorome come from distantly behind her. Her eyes darted back and forth as she scanned the target for its rapidly rotating weak point. Once she locked onto it, the thunderous sounds that had once seemed distant caught up with her in a hurry and overpowered her senses.

He thought he saw it, but he must have been mistaken. He can't see right in front of Argentea, there is a blind spot that only Miku can see. He wouldn't have known exactly where to strike if the weak point was directly in front of Argentea's face. But he seemed to be able to 'see' it none the less for a split second, just long enough to deliver the finishing blow. _How on earth could I have known, we practice hitting in that spot, but it's more about good guesswork than precision._ He was absolutely baffled.

"We did it Zorome!" yelled Miku cutting him out of his thoughts, "I don't know how you got that hit, but it was amazing" she gushed.

As they handed, he relaxed the controls and wiped the sweat off his hands, he knew Miku would appreciate it. "Phfew! I have no idea what happened, but I'm glad were alright" he said, now looking and feeling just as exhausted as Miku was.

"Let's get out of this fucking mining shaft; it's been over an hour and this is just training anyway" said Miku, clearly uninterested in seeking out any more Klaxosaurs that could prove as annoying to kill as this one was. For once he and his co-pilot were on one mind, "You said it Miku" was all he said before he took the controls and made a b-line for the surface.

* * *

(A/N) So I don't think i'm as good with action scenes as with others, but I tried my best. Obviously I want to make most of the story about Zoro/Miku, but I think giving a bit to all the couples and all the pilots interactions gives their love story interesting context. I don't know how you guys feel about my treatment of Hiro/Z-2, but I kind of view them as comic relief in this story, cause so much of the drama of it is explored in the show. Anyway, I've already got a lot written, so look forward to it.


	3. Tit For Tat

Chapter Three: Tit For Tat

 _ **0800 Hours, APE Coordinated Time**_

 _ **The boarding house, Cereuses.**_

"From an operational standpoint, yesterdays operation was a complete success; the latest satellite readings indicate that the Klaxosaurs have completely vacated the mining complex" announced Nana triumphantly at breakfast that next morning. Instead of their usual after-mission debrief, everyone opted to skip it due to fatigue and reschedule it for that morning's breakfast.

As everyone happily feasted on various baked goods and jams, still quite famished from yesterdays exercise, Nana continued to detail the various reports to the 13th. "However, our stated goal of having a Franxx transform was not met" she said, feeling the room suddenly a little less enthused. "Dr. Franxx and his team, as well as APE headquarters expected as much, so don't feel so down that it didn't work out the first time, even for parasites that have done it before" she said lightly, trying to cheer up the pilots and giving Hiro and Zero-Two a teasing glance.

Zorome couldn't help but feel a little despondent that he had let Papa down. It made him realize, just how far from being an adult he really was. Except for that one pain in the ass, yesterday's operation had been a piece of cake and yet he still didn't feel like he was accomplishing enough as a pilot. Maybe even worse than letting down Papa, he felt like he seemed pathetic in front of Miku. He had to save face in front of that damn girl or it would be the end of him.

While he was lost deep in thought, Futoshi surreptitiously attempted to stab some untouched sausages off Zorome's plate. If it wasn't for Mitsuru's loud clearing of his throat, Zorome would have been none the wiser as Futoshi made off with half of his breakfast.

"What gives Futoshi!?" Zorome yelled out, startled at the antics of his friend, and swatting away his thieving fork from his plate.

Futoshi gave Mitsuru a death glare, "Hmpf, must you take everything I love from me?" he asked sarcastically. Kokoro's faced turned red and she turned away, Mitsuru simply scoffed.

"That's enough you two; if you want more you can have mine Futoshi, I'm just about finished" chimed in Ichigo calmly, trying her best to lead her troops both on, and more importantly, off the battlefield.

* * *

Ikuno flipped through the pages of her book as she took in the surrounding conversation. As usual, the love birds of the squad we're making a scene out of their meal, which guaranteed everyone breakfast and a show if they chose to indulge; almost no one did, but that wasn't the point. Futoshi's sarcastic remark at the other end of the table almost made her visibly giggle, but she was an expert at keeping a straight face. Her poor partner wasn't exactly dealing with his separation in a healthy way, but he was sure dealing with it in an amusing way, which was just as good in her book.

"Must be a pretty funny book if it amuses even you Ikuno" Mitsuru said off-handedly to her.

"Plenty amuses me Mitsuru, like your haircut for instance" she replied curtly to her former co-pilot.

"I can tell because your eyes widen just a bit when you think something's really funny" he continued, opting to not address her comment about his hairstyle, "you keep your mouth straight so you think your fooling everyone, but I've been around you too long for that".

Ikuno was slightly off-put by the fact that anyone, let alone Mitsuru could decipher he facial features, if that was even what had happened, it could just have easily been a lucky guess, she rationalized.

"And if it does, what's it matter to you Mitsuru?" she asked with some amount of curiosity, her former partner never made it a point to just chit chat with her, he must have an angle.

"Futoshi is a good guy, it's a shame he currently hates me for something that's not at all my fault" he said lightly as he took a sip from his coffee. "But he's not who you really want is he?"

Ikuno now had a stern look of irritation on her face. "And what would you know about what I really want?" she replied.

"Pistil-to-pistil connections will never work you know, it's not how their designed. So I'd appreciate it if you got along with him well enough to get him off my back alight"

It didn't answer the question directly, but Ikuno understood every word. On the face of it, it wasn't that outrageous of a request, she wanted to get along with Futoshi too. But the fact that Mitsuru even hinted at knowing why she might not gave her a deeply uneasy feeling.

"Keep your mind on Genista and off of Chlorophytum and we'll be just fine" she replied, "And keep her happy or we're going to have a problem got it?"

Mitsuru just shrugged and gave her a knowing smirk. This irritated Ikuno to no end, but it was enough that they had come to an understanding.

* * *

Nana was definitely losing the crowd. They always listened better to Hachi, god damn him. Was it his monotone voice, or his small emotionless eyes that kept them in rapt attention? She was the one who took care of them after all, organized the mysterious 'helpers' after all, she was their god damn Nana after all! She gritted her teeth and quietly fumed as she finished the last of her announcements, it being quite clear that no one, except for perhaps Goro and thank god for him, was listening at all.

Zero-Two eyed her with bemusement. "Someone really needs to treat her nice soon or she'll kill us in our sleep" she said nonchalantly to her lover.

"Everyone always treats Nana nicely Zero-two" he replied as he kept his eyes and thoughts squarely on his roll and jam combo.

Zero-Two shook her head disappointingly at her lover, "No, I mean VERY nicely" she clarified.

Hiro looked at her stupidly and then replied "Yeah very nicely, everyone is very nice to Nana" he said with just the slightest amount of contempt.

"Oh brother, now I remember, you're a dumbass" she replied, on the verge of a tiff with her lover.

"Why are we a thing again?" he asked with faux earnestness. He and Zero-two almost never got into petty spats, but it was pretty fun when they did anyway.

"Something something something, long lost childhood love birds, something something something, we pilot a giant robot" She said, outlining the basic gist of their story.

"Ah" Hiro replied underwhelmingly, "Guess I have no choice but to cherish you forever than?"

"Exactly, darling!" she replied jubilantly.

* * *

Miku would have rolled her eyes at the antics of Hiro and Zero-Two, maybe even called them out for being too lovey-dovey, but this time she couldn't help but smile a bit. _I wonder what it would be like to have a partner you can mess around with like that,_ she thought while she was toying with her breakfast. If it were her and Zorome having the same fight, they might have already come to blows. As it stood, the price Zero-Two paid for her teasing was lots of cuddling and promises of more to come. Her head was deeply in her hand as she leaned on the table and gazed across the room at the couple.

"They make quite the pair don't they?" asked Kokoro, breaking Miku of her trance.

Miku crossed her arms in a huff, "They make quite a nuisance of themselves if you ask me" she replied sternly.

Kokoro giggled at her friend, "You must have a lot of admiration for nuisances than, for staring as long as you did" Miku reacted with horror, _just how long had she been watching them?_ And more importantly who had noticed.

"I was…I was…admiring her hair is all. Zero-two has a very pretty….complexion" she offered weakly.

Kokoro kept going with a slightly mischievous smile on her face, "Yes, she does have a nice complexion…and several other nice things"

Miku looked at her sideways, she knew where Kokoro was going with this but she had no idea why. _So what if Zero-Two had Hiro, she never cared for Hiro that much anyway, so it shouldn't make her jealous or envious of her_.

"Much like you and Mitsuru, I've noticed of late" she replied, trying to turn the conversation on her friend. The last thing she wanted to discuss was her relationship with any of the boys.

Kokoro quickly turned red, and tried to hide her face, frantic to reassure Miku that it was really nothing at all between her and Mitsuru.

"You've…You've got it all wrong, Mitsuru just has a really good heart deep down and I want to help him show everyone" she replied with as innocent as expression as she could muster.

Miku scooched her chair a little closer to Kokoro, learned in very close to her, and whispered, "or is it love?" in her cutest teasing voice.

Kokoro was still, very still as steam started to leak out of her ears. _I think I might have broken her,_ thought Miku. Her grin and amusement with her friend however masked the deep relief she had in getting out of that situation. The last thing she needed was anyone having any strange thoughts about the two co-pilots of Argentea. It was for the best, she was sure Zorome wouldn't want any of the boys thinking there was something between them either. And there really was nothing, so any something would be a misrepresentation, which would annoy the both of them she soundly reasoned.

* * *

 _ **1000 Hours, APE Coordinated Time**_

 _ **Cosmos, Low-Earth Orbit.**_

"Werner it's good to see you again" said the Chairman (known as Papa to the pilots), greeting the elder scientist as he entered the council room.

Dr. Franxx grimaced, "It is always good to be back before the council which has given my work the priority it deserves".

"It's precisely you're work that we've brought you here to discuss today, doctor" interjected the Vice-Chairman and director of research projects.

"We've received reports that you are trying out some new transformations with the Franxx. Why were we not told of this directly before hand?" he asked accusatorially.

Dr. Franxx sighed and waved his hand dismissively, "Science is the story of a thousand tiny ideas and ten thousand tiny failures. If I we're to report every little experiment I conducted, you'd be buried in meaningless paperwork" he said reassuringly.

"So your latest experiment was a failure?" asked Gorilla, one of the council members.

Dr. Franxx shook his head affirmatively but with an aura of disappointment, "Not a single one of the pairs were able to transform, despite good evidence that our little girl had achieved it before hand."

"You used the 13th for this side project doctor?" asked the Chairman, learning forward with increased interest.

"Yes" said the doctor confidently, "The parasites of that particular unit possess many interesting traits that make them ideal test subjects" he continued, "Not to mention, Zero-Two is currently attached to that unit while her current partner continues to live" he paused, scratching the back of his head, "It's quite uncanny".

"It's a shame we don't have a male copy of the Klaxosaur princess for her to bond with" added Baboon, another member of APE's highest governing body.

"Sadly, that has proven to be an elusive goal thus far" he responded, neglecting to elaborate on the ridiculousness of the idea, "however, the boy has proven incredibly useful, in the sense that long-term data on Zero-Two's previous partners has been…shall we say, in short supply".

The chairman laughed, gallows humor always did appeal to him. "I just hope she isn't learning any bad habits from those lesser specimens" he said, sounding like a doting father.

Dr. Franxx cracked a sideways smile, "On the contrary Chairman, it is our little girl who is teaching them all sorts of forbidden knowledge".

"Oh?" he replied with quite a bit of curiosity, "and just what kind of ancient nonsense is she poisoning our precious parasites minds with?"

Dr. Franxx, looking a little embarrassed to discuss the matter answered sheepishly, "Love".

* * *

 _ **1700 Hours, APE Coordinated Time**_

 _ **The Boarding House, Cereuses.**_

Goro, Zorome, and Futoshi were kicking around the soccer ball as the sun began to set over picturesque Mistilteinn. Zorome enjoyed the camaraderie he had with his fellow stamen. They had all become a lot closer since the week the girls tried to divide the house in two. Before then he had been kind of a jackass by trying to pick fights with the other Franxx pilots, but had since discovered a new found appreciation for their company.

"Seems transforming with the girls is harder than we thought it would be huh?" said Futoshi, who had faired rather poorly with Ikuno during their mission.

"Yeah even Hiro and Zero-Two hadn't been able to do it, and you know how close they are" responded Goro with a knowing look to the other two.

"Yeah, what exactly is the deal with them anyway?" Zorome asked with a tinge of annoyance, "They never seem to be separated at all, its kinda lame if you ask me".

"I asked Hiro and he said they're not…you know…touching each other like that" said Goro with a rising pink coloration to his face.

"Touching each other like what? I've made my peace with Hiro, but I still think he's a sentimental wuss, what are they holding hands?" Zorome asked ranting to his teammates.

"Kokoro read a book once; it said that humans used to lay next to each other naked if they felt really close to one another" interjected Futoshi with a bit of embarrassment.

"WHA!" yelled Zorome, "What kind of crap is that? Don't tell me you guys have ever thought of that?"

A kind of silence fell over the group as Zorome's eyes darted between his two comrades as they evaded his gaze. Goro cast his eyes to the ground and scratched the back of his head. Futoshi looked above himself at the clouds with focused intensity.

Zorome pointed at them accusingly, eyes wide with horror, "Not you guys! Ugh are Miku and I the only people on this team without weird thoughts for each other".

With that the aura between the three changed in way that would not bode well for the blonde haired pilot of Argentea. Goro and Futoshi snapped out of their respective trances and gave each other a knowing conspiratorial look. They both began walking towards Zorome with a newly serious looks on their faces.

Zorome retreated from his two friends slightly at this turn in events, "What are you guys doing, why are you looking at me like that" he demanded, as his back ran into a tree at the far edge of the compound, he was trapped.

"And just what exactly are your thoughts about Miku, Zorome?" asked Goro, whose eyes were shaded behind his opaque glasses.

"Yeah, tell us buddy, we're not going to rat on you or anything" added Futoshi with a hunger in his eyes.

Zorome was panicked, what did these guys want to hear exactly? _It wasn't that he didn't care for Miku; it was just more complicated than that. Miku was never going to be his 'darling' or anything like that._ He felt that what they had was different. Not that he was going to tell either Goro or Futoshi that.

"tch, as if" he scoffed, "I don't fall for bait that easily". With that he kicked the soccer ball up from his feet and sent it flying towards Futoshi's face with killer accuracy. Futoshi skillfully deflected it, but it ricocheted right into Goro's crotch, sending him to the ground.

"Good talk buddy" wheezed Goro from a crouched position as he tried to ease the pain from his injury.

Futoshi was right by Goro's side profusely apologizing as Zorome made a quiet escape inside the house. He'd apologize later, but for the moment he was just glad to be out of that situation. As he walked inside, he decided that after all that running around he would take a bath, and headed for the showers.

* * *

 _ **1730 Hours, APE Coordinated Time**_

 _ **The House Bath, Cereuses.**_

The warm water bubbled slightly as two streaks of hair, one blue and one auburn, emerged from out of the bath water. Yesterday had been an especially long day for both of them, with each of them taking a beating from their partners handling of the Franxx. While the other pistils had been with them for some time, they had elected to remain in the bath for much longer, soaking in the soothing effect of the water on their muscles and bones. They were not a typical paring, as both had expressed annoyance and frustration with the other in the past, but for the time being, it seemed like they were commiserating on some level.

"I never knew Goro could be such a man, he kind of comes off as a bit timid at times" said Miku, continuing the conversation they had been having previously.

Ichigo covered her mouth with her hand to try and stifle a giggle, "Yeah…I guess". _Miku is as blunt as always, that's my partner she's talking about here, but she's not wrong._ "But I guess everyone seems timid compared to Zorome, there is a reason people called him 'the devil' during our time at the garden" she continued.

Miku sighed, she knew all too well about Zorome's reputation as a stamen in training. He had exceptional talent, but was such a studious breaker of the rules that he was relegated to the mid triple digits. His anger about being demoted only contributed to a cycle of hubris and rage that came to be considered so fearsome, few if any of the pistils would have anything to do with him. But something happened to him one day, no one knows for sure what, but he began to calm down. Oh for sure, he continued to be a menace, but it was manageable. She only met him personally after this point, but his reputation among the pistils preceded him. In all their time piloting together, he rarely talked about that time in the garden, and never disclosed to her, or anyone to her knowledge, about just what happened.

"Devil my ass, he's more of a crybaby to me" she replied, defending him in the most insulting way possible.

"You should have seen the way he sucked up to me after the suit melting incident".

Ichigo remembered it well, the peace accord at the top of the stairs after they had discovered the rooms of the deceased former 13th members. Zorome had offered to never leer at Miku again, but she was bold enough to insist that he couldn't. If Zorome was a real mans man, Miku was a real girls girl. It was a confidence that Ichigo admired in her when it wasn't interfering with the squad.

"If you think Zorome was sorry, you should have seen Goro, and I didn't even have the nerve to tell him he could keep looking" she replied with a bit of pink in her cheeks.

"Hmpf, that little pervert probably still looks at me, no matter what I say" she said with a huff, as she crossed her arms.

Ichigo couldn't help but giggle to herself, "but you did say he could after all…." She said, her voice trailing off.

Miku sunk back into the bath water, her previous confidence evaporating from her. _It's only because it's true, he'd never stop._

"I wish I had that kind of confidence" Ichigo admitted as she sank back into the water with her friend, sitting near the edge of the bath with her legs curled up.

"Don't even worry about Hiro anymore Ichigo, he's completely ensnared by Zero-Two; to them no one else even exists" said Miku with just a slight edge to her words.

 _Was it even Hiro she was concerned with?_ _She didn't know._ "You're right, they are always like that, so why are you mad?" Ichigo asked her bathing companion.

Miku was quite for a moment, almost shy. "I'm not….I'm just…well I find it hard to concentrate when they mess around".

Ichigo smiled, "You? Concentrated on your work? Color me surprised".

Miku gritted her teeth and splashed Ichigo with as much water as she could, "Oh shut up!"

Ichigo replied to her assault with just as much force and dedication. Before long the two parasites were in a full on splash flight. Both laughing and smiling, they completely forgot what had brought it on in the first place.

* * *

Just out of earshot, a figure retreated from the sliding door which separated the bath from the changing room. Completely unbeknownst to the bathing pistils, the figure had listened in to quite a bit of their conversation. The information that was divulged in confidence would prove interesting to many people, and in times of love as in war, information was very profitable.

* * *

(A/N) I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing. I promise this whole story wont be back and forth conversations but I kinda wish it could. Hopefully this begins to take a dive into some interesting back story for the characters, and further explores some relationships. Please send me some reviews and tell me what I am doing right or wrong, both appreciated!


	4. Work Is Love Made Visible

**Chapter 4: Work Is Love Made Visible**

 _ **1100 Hours, APE Coordinated Time**_

 _ **Mistilteinn, Cereuses.**_

Nana sipped on her tea as she late lunch in near silence with her fellow 13th caretaker, Hachi. The two retired parasites rarely spoke of anything other than work topics since they had been decommissioned several years ago. Not that Hachi had been a terribly expressive man before the 'treatment' he underwent when he was 18 and then been promoted to defense commander for the 13th plantation. As far as Nana could tell, his emotions had been almost completely repressed, well, at least those that didn't make him an excellent strategist.

"No new orders from the Doctor lately, I guess they have him pretty busy consulting on a new project" she said, commenting on the weeklong communications blackout with their project leader.

Hachi nodded, "Standard operating procedure is to continue with our last standing orders until he contacts us" he replied dryly.

"Don't you think we ought to update him on the 'p' issue before it starts to get out of hand?" she asked, appealing to his sense of responsibility.

Hachi was a man of the rules, and he respected Dr. Franxx immensely. When they last spoke over the telecom, the doctor had specifically told them not to interfere too much with the everyday lives of the 13th. If their current actions didn't represent a direct threat to the well functioning defense of the plantation, he saw no compelling reason to deviate from that order.

"No" he replied, "You know how the Doctor hates it when we follow APE procedures too closely".

Nana scoffed, "This from the man who won't even go to the beach with his former partner, because it's 'against regs'".

Hachi merely continued to eat his lunch in peace, not giving much mind to his increasingly frustrated coworker. He'd have thought that since she was an adult now, and had undergone the same post-puberty counseling that they all had, that she would be much more calm and rational, but it was almost as if she was regressing.

"One of these days their feelings for each other are going to be a problem, especially with Zero-Two and Hiro providing such a bad example of proper conduct." Said Nana, mirroring the overbearing paranoia of generations gone by.

"We need to get them to do something besides sitting around the boarding house all day" she mused, "but there just isn't enough Klaxosaur activity to justify a sortie".

Satalite telemetry had shown scant evidence that Klaxasaurs even existed in the area the 13th plantation was currently patroling. It had been two or more weeks without even so much as a tremor. And thier past experiance of letting the parasites sit idle was that they would eventually find trouble. Memories of past fiascos, such as the battle of the sexes made her shiver at the thought of what those increasingly hormonal teenagers would do if they were just left to one another.

Hachi's perpetual thousand yard stare made it so you never quite understood where, or even if, his mind was working. But his relentless seriousness indicated that he never just spaced out, he was always working on a plan.

"Hm, I may be able to assist in this area, but it may require some permission from headquarters" Hachi replied with an idea in mind.

"What kind of kill-time activity could possibly require permission from headquarters?" asked Nana incredulously.

"Oh, you'll see" he replied flatly, with just the hint of smirk on his face.

* * *

 _ **1200 Hours, APE Coordinated Time**_

 _ **The Command Center, Cereuses.**_

"We're going to the inner city!?" gushed Zorome, with an ear to ear smile on his face, "That's where the adults live, yatta!".

"Yes, we'll be going around the city doing a little work" confirmed Hachi, "so put your working uniforms on so people won't recognize you so easily" he ordered.

Zorome was slightly crestfallen at that, "aww, but I wanted to show off to the adults in our spiffy dress uniforms".

Miku looked at him with a playful grin on her face, "and I thought dress up was just for little girls….guess I was wrong" she said, coyly suppressing a laugh with a hand over her mouth.

"You're just jealous cause' it looks better on me than it does on you" he replied with a snide tenor to his voice.

"Hmpf, as if you little dweeb, everyone thinks I'm super cute in my parasite outfit! Isnt that right?" she asked as she performed a little twirl and curtsey to the rest of the group, inviting them to weigh in.

 _Every time with them_ , _I_ _wonder if they know or not?_ Thought Zero-Two, smiling as she watched the latest spat between the pilots of Argentea devolve into the most pointless, but might she add adorable, fight. She had to laugh, if it weren't for the grim circumstances that brought them together for their work, the 13th would make for a pretty funny comedy troupe. But as always, the violent nature of their job, and the oppressive society they lived in precluded such flights of fancy.

"I guess they're finally letting us into the city" whispered Zero-Two to Hiro.

"Ever been?" he asked casually, still unsure of many of the life experiences that Zero-Two had been through, but the rest of them had not.

"Once or twice, it's bustling with people doing every sort of thing, but it's always felt lifeless to me" she replied cryptically.

"Lifeless?" he asked echoing her words.

"Just…let's never grow up, ok?" she replied with a forlorn look on her face.

Hiro grimaced with concern for Zero-Two, she was normally as ebullient as ever when they got out of the boarding house and actually did stuff.

"…sure Zero-Two".

"Oh darling, you know just what to say" she replied with a newfound smile on her face as she embraced Hiro in a deep and long lasting hug. For his part, Hiro was happy to go along with her public display of affection, but was still deeply confused.

* * *

Goro looked to Ichigo for any indication that she knew what was going on. It wasn't common practice for them to be let into any of the inner regions of the massive plantation that they called home; in fact they had never been let into the inner city at all. _Why now? You'd think it would be quite the occasion for us to be invited, but we're going in our field work uniforms of all things._

"I can tell you're confused" Ichigo chimed in on her partner, "but I don't have any better idea than you Goro, this wasn't on my radar at all".

"Strange, you'd think at least our squad leader would know a few days in advance".

Ichigo crossed her arms and sighed, "After this past year, I'm not surprised anymore by anything that happens".

He could tell she was exhausted. Not in the sense of being physically tired, but emotionally and intellectually drained from her position as head parasite. Ever since they had arrived at Cereuses almost a year ago, she had been under a massive amount of pressure to perform. Ichigo, Hiro, and himself had all been given low parasite numbers at graduation and had come directly from the advanced courses; but Mitsuru, Kokoro, Miku, and especially Zorome hadn't had much contact with each other before they we're all assigned to the 13th. Then once they all got acquainted there was the trouble with Hiro and Naomi. It had been a challenging first few months as a leader for her; he wasn't surprised that the pressure got to her occasionally.

Goro moved closer to her and patted her on the head with his lager than average hands. She normally just squirmed a bit and then swatted him off of her hair, but this time she let him linger for a while. _Her hair is so soft; I wish I could stay like this forever._

"You never learn do you?" she asked once she had become conscious of her partners intrusion of her personal space, swatting him away as expected.

"I try not to" he replied sarcastically, earning himself a quick jab to the ribs from Ichigo's elbow.

Goro winced slightly, and instinctively covered his mid section from further attack. "I forgot how much of a punch your little body can pack" he said groaning, regretting his intrusion of her bubble.

Ichigo ignored Goro's pantomime injury routine and looked off into the distance wistfully, "I've never really thought about becoming an adult, it seems so distant from where were standing" she mused openly.

"Yeah….but as long as I'm standing next to you, I don't care how distant it seems" he replied.

Ichigo's face turned a little pink at Goro's words. He was such a loser at times, but he made her feel safe. She didn't bother to reply to him, content that their silence spoke volumes; they both had a lot to prepare for anyway.

* * *

 _ **1300 Hours, APE Coordinated Time.**_

 _ **The Inner City, Cereuses.**_

Everything was bright, brighter than they had ever seen. So much so that it seemed to rival the sun in brilliance. Almost every surface glittered with the shimmer of precious metals and impeccable cleanliness. Buildings towered over the young parasites at heights they scarcely imagined possible. For the past year they had lived their whole lives in what resembled an 18th century English country home; now they were suddenly introduced to the futuristic world which surrounded their cloistered abode.

Ikuno was nothing short of impressed, a feat in its own right. She was always humbled by mankind's endless ability to not only survive, but thrive. Hundreds of years ago, it would have simply been unthinkable the kinds of structures and materials that constituted the sprawling metropolis that unfolded before her. Furthermore it would have been pure fantasy to imagine it being mobile. _Although, the more audacious the achievement, the more terrifying the threat_ _to it. God only knows what people from the 21_ _st_ _century would have thought of Klaxosaurs. Humanity probably would have perished._ She thought pessimistically, if not without a good founding in fact.

As they entered the city, she noticed the patrol of guards discretely shadowing their group's movements, both in front of and behind them. _We're strangers in a strange land; it's hard to guess who is being protected in this situation, us from them, or the other way around?_ Parasites were a rarefied group in this world. All of adult society as far as she knew lived in seclusion from any type of children due to the loss of reproductive functionality in humans. _It wouldn't be a surprise if most adults found their violent business somewhat off putting._ As they descended a long elevator, with a wide open observation deck, they eventually made it to the ground floor of the city.

The chatter was lively and much more varied than she was used too. Groups of tall, dark clad figures with shrouds that obscured their eyes milled around a large open court that was called 'the forum'. It was from here, that any number of shops and places of business were situated for easy access to the large number of patrons.

The 13th quickly became an object of interest in this otherwise monoculture cityscape. As they made their way to their destination, individuals as well as whole groups would stop whatever they were doing and stare. Sometimes they would chatter discretely to themselves, others would merely observe in silence. _These uniforms aren't fooling anyone, you could tell a parasite from an adult a mile away, no matter what they wore._

Ikuno slowly made her way to the front of the group and engaged with Nana. "So what exactly are we doing here besides being a carnival side show?" she asked.

"Public works" was all Nana had to give as an answer with a tricksters smile on her face.

 _This isn't good, that woman's happiness is always a red flag._ "I don't think we're suited to much else other than piloting the Franxx" she stated bluntly, trying to probe further.

"You're well suited to serving the adults in all sorts of capacities" she replied with a ring in her voice. _Definitely bad._

* * *

 _ **Sometime later…**_

"GARBAGE!" Zorome screamed at a shrill, pain inducing pitch. "We came to the city to pick up fucking GARBAGE?!" he reiterated incredulously.

"Yes" was all Hachi had to matter-of-factually say as he crossed his arms and closed ranks with his accomplice in crime Nana.

Zorome threw up his arms in frustration, "This is bullshit! I thought we were going to do cool adult things" he continued, fury unabated.

Although they didn't say it, the rest of the group commiserated with Zorome, this had been a damn dirty trick by their caretakers. Only fiends would tease parasites with a trip into the plantations interior, and then pull the rug out from under them with the imposition of manual labor.

Miku joined her partner like a comrade in arms in a front against the caretakers. "There is no way a girl as cute as me is going to pick up filth off the street" she declared in a bratty tone of voice with a pout on her lips.

"Yeah!" continued her partner, "No one as cute as Miku should have to put up with this low-life crap!" he lambasted.

Everyone's eyes bulged slightly at that comment. But neither Zorome nor Miku seemed to notice anything amiss with how he made his point. Each so infuriated and engrossed in their own defense to care that Zorome had complimented her looks.

 _Zorome, there really are no rules in love and war are there?_ Hiro Thought as he admired Zorome's brash defense of the parasites coming work assignment and his Freudian confession that he liked his partner more than he let on.

Ever since he and Zero-Two had come to terms with their feelings for one another and been open about it, he began to consider the members of the 13th in a new light. Love was a perfectly normal human emotion, but one that had been kept from them. It was all so new, and he hadn't quite figured it all out for himself either, after all, everyday seemed to bring a revelation in his relationship with Zero-Two. But he was beginning to believe that love wasn't just preferable, it was inevitable.

It was as clear as the blue sky that Goro was in love with Ichigo. It would be hard for him to miss any kind of feeling or sense of desire from his closest friend. But as expected as it seemed in hindsight, he wasn't sure until just recently that Zorome loved Miku, and that all sorts of feelings were running around the squad like an invisible wildfire.

"It's beautiful but kind of sad you know" interjected Zero- Two, putting an end to his inner monologue.

"What?" replied Hiro, unsure which part of the scene in front of them delighted her so much.

"That they don't know", she said softly.

"Yeah….but I hope they find out, I hope they find each other one day"

"Everyone needs their wings"

Hiro could only nod his head in accent, unsure if any words could convey the proper meaning; content to lets Zero-Two's imperative stand on its own.

"LET'S GET GOING NOW!" Hachi loudly and unceremoniously commanded over the quite words they were exchanging; cutting short any further discussion on the topic.

* * *

The hours seemed to drag on as they made their way through the bustling city, sweeping and stabbing trash to be collected in bins on their backs. No one seemed to enjoy the activity very much, but they were committed to doing it as well as they did their jobs on any normal sortie; at least that's what Ichigo made sure of.

"You missed a spot" Ikuno said flatly for the 10th time to Zorome that afternoon, pointing at an array of paper debris a few feet back.

"Ugh, why did I have to get paired with you of all people" replied Zorome with exasperation. "I bet Zero-Two would let me goof off if I were with her, like she lets Hiro do all the time" he continued.

"I'm sure she would, but she isn't exactly the poster child for parasite of the year either" Ikuno said as she continued to focus on her sweeping duties, making sure she didn't leave a spot untouched.

"I'm sure Miku would love to see you goof off with Zero-Two as well" she continued, subtly threatening to rat him out to his partner.

Zorome tensed up with freight, but then his facial features fell, "I doubt she'd even care" he spoke softly, "she never cares what I do" he finished.

Ikuno could feel the subtle pain in what he said. "That's not what it looks like to me, you two are always at each other's throats" she said with a fair amount of honesty in her words.

"Tch" he scoffed as he stabbed another errant soda can with more force than usual. "That's exactly what I mean; she never cares unless it's something that annoys her; she's so selfish".

"Have you ever considered how much of an interest you take it her life?" asked Ikuno; sure of herself that she already knew the answer.

Zorome was slightly taken aback by the question, and even more by his answer. _He didn't really take that much interest, but that was fine, because she didn't want him to right?_

"We….we don't have that much in common" he replied weakly to her question.

"What do you mean 'nothing in common'" she said with some harshness in her voice, "You are Franxx partners, you have everything in common" she finished.

"Huh? No not that kind of thing…." He trailed off.

Ikuno stopped and turned to him and looked him straight in the eyes. "No, exactly that kind of thing" she said firmly, "You know Miku better than any of us ever could, and you're an idiot if you think otherwise".

Ikuno cast he eyes downward with a mix of sadness and shame, "And you should be so lucky, some of us can't know another person's heart like that" she said and then walked away stridently from Zorome, intent on finishing their task in relative silence.

For his part, Zorome was totally lost. _What the heck did I say? I just wanted to goof around, and now I'm alone._ He thought as he continued to do his job, keeping his distance from Ikuno. _Although,_ he thought, _maybe I should go find Miku._

* * *

Miku and Zero-Two made their way through a deserted alley with relative ease. The city for all their gripes was already remarkably clean for having so many people in it; tidying up seemed like more of a time killer than an actual public need. Zero-Two of course had become used to the pointless busy work of military life; even her exalted status among parasites had not kept her from the occasional make-work activity.

"I can't wait to be done with this and get back to my darling" She said in a rather jubilant mood as she swept the street haphazardly.

"You and your stupid darling, ugh" replied Miku with a sour expression on her face.

"I didn't know you disliked Hiro so much" she replied with some confusion on her face, unsure why Miku would insult Hiro out of the blue.

Miku only scoffed, "I don't dislike Hiro, what gave you that impression?" she asked incredulously.

Zero-Two brought her finger up to her lips as if she was thinking deeply. "So you dislike me?"

Miku just turned away and kept sweeping, "I don't dislike you either Zero-Two, why are you being so weird about this?"

Zero-Two moved closer to Miku, still not understanding why she would call either of them stupid, which was as far as she knew an insult for humans. _I still have so much to learn about being human._ She thought to herself as she moved close into Miku's personal space, _this is how you indicate intimacy between people right?_

Miku studiously evaded her gaze, trying and failing to properly do her work and concentrate on avoiding zero-Two. _Why the hell is she so close? I swear if she licks me like she did to Ikuno I'm going to beat her with this broom._

Her grip tightened and her anger slowly rose as she felt the presence of Zero-Two close in behind as she was about to turn around and smack Zero-Two upside the head, she felt a firm yet gentle hand on her shoulder.

"I know" was all Zero-Two said softly as she gently rubbed Miku's shoulder.

Miku's heart briefly skipped several beats in a row, throwing her bodily homeostasis through a loop. _Oh God, what does she know? How could she even think it was like that?_ Her heart beat ever faster and he breathing increased with shallow breaths, _what is wrong with me, why am I evening feeling like this._

Zero-Two finally took her hand off Miku, and she suddenly felt like she could breathe again, as if a giant stone was taken off her chest. She leaned on her broom stick for stability as she began to recover.

"Being a human seems so complicated to me, you know?" Zero-Two said, somewhat confused by her companions sever reaction to even being touched, _I never thought Miku was that frail._ She thought to herself as she tried to explain herself to the recovering pistil.

"I know that it must be hard for you guys to deal with my being new to the squad, humans are pack animals after all, and I am not one of you" she said rather despondently.

However, her smile returned quickly with her energy, "But I want to be with you guys, and be like you so desperately. I get a warm feeling in my heart every time we are together".

"So cheer up! We are all in this together!" she ordered playfully to Miku.

 _Oh that's all it was_. She thought as she slowly recovered from her heart palpitations. _You're already one of us Zero-Two, just a particularly troublesome one of us. A bit dense too, just like another parasite I know._

Suddenly a loud crash could be heard at the end of the alley they were cleaning up. They both turned their heads quickly to observe whatever had caused such a deafening sound, and saw Hiro and Goro running towards them at full speed, litter sticks in hand.

"RUN! RUN RUN!" was all they were screaming as they eyed the pair of pistils down the alley.

Miku and Zero-Two just looked at them oddly for a second, seeing nothing other than two terrified stamen running at full speed towards them.

Just then a blue figure, slightly larger than an average human rounded the corner. It had mechanical looking features and two long sharp blades for appendages. It moved inhumanly quickly, seemingly aided by spring like gear on the end of its overly long legs.

By this point the terrified stamen had reached their pistil companions and grabbed them and began shoving them along away from the fast approaching unknown being.

As the pistils met the stride of their much faster partners, they couldn't help but wonder what the hell was going on.

"What is that thing?!" asked Miku, now just as scared at the stamen running alongside her.

"Could be a Klaxosaur, could be some other nightmare, we don't know yet" explained Goro between deep heaving breaths.

"But that thing is almost like our size, aren't Klaxosaurs supposed to be as big as Franxx?"

"That's what we thought, but we just have no idea at this point, except that it's trying to kill us" explained Hiro.

The small monstrosities we're definitely gaining ground on the parasites by this point, their mechanical bodies far outperforming the mere biological abilities of the young humans. _It's now or never_ thought Goro as he gauged the distance between them and the Klax-like being by sound alone, not daring to turn around and break his stride just yet.

He gripped his makeshift weapon tightly. _This thing isn't going to do much against those monsters, but maybe I can buy some time._ He turned to Hiro and gave him a knowing look. Hiro wouldn't be pleased by his heroics, but his closest friend at least understood what was required of him. Hiro nodded affirmatively to Goro's plan, seemingly telepathically understanding the stakes.

The alley eventually gave way to a much more crowded street, with adults milling around, chatting with one another, visiting shops, and eating food in open air cafés. Goro had to make sure the Klaxosaurs never made it that far.

 _Right_. He assured himself, as he turned to face the two man-sized Klax now no more than 10 feet away. He braced the small metal rod in front of him as he prepared for their scythe-like appendages to wail on him.

The attacks came quicker and with more force than he ever imagined. Each of the pair slashed at him, trying to expose a weak spot in his defense. He made due with what he had, which wasn't much, other than his vague memories of hand to hand combat training at the garden. As the lunges and thrusts of the Klax kept coming unabated, he was slowly being maneuvered into a corner. _Shit, if this goes on for much longer I'm toast._

As he glanced toward the end of the alley, he didn't see any other humans with him any longer. _Thank god, as long as they escaped I can die here with some dignity and peace._ In his moment of distraction, the grip on his weapon was weakened, and a strong slash from the enemy Klax knocked it out of his hands, and gave him a nasty cut up his arm. The deep gash left his right arm completely useless and expelling blood at an alarming rate.

 _This is it…..Hiro…Ichigo, I'm sorry for being an absolute fool, but at least this fool did it his way._ Goro closed his eyes and prepared for the blow of mercy which would end his thus far short life with one fell swing of the executioner's blade. But as he waited and waited, the searing pain of being cut in half never came. _Am I already dead and I just didn't notice? I can't hear a damn thing, but my eyes just won't move to see what happened._

"GORO! Move before I kill you too!" shouted Futoshi over the loud speaker of his Franxx Chlorophytum.

After that, all Goro could hear was a deafening sound exploding from a whisper inside his head. He wasn't sure if something had actually blown up near him or whether it was all a figment of his fight-or-flight response to almost dying.

He doubled over in pain, unable to sustain his own weight anymore with the throbbing pain of his arm as well as the one in his head. His limp body fell alongside the dark alley wall; the decapitated corpses of his erstwhile Klax opponents' mere inches from him.

In the cockpit of Chlorophytum, Futoshi urgently opened a transmission line with Nana, "Goro's down and badly hurt, and we need reinforcements now!" he reported.

Futoshi moved his Franxx gingerly, sure to avoid crushing his defenseless partners that had taken refuge behind him, as well as trying to avoid as much collateral damage to the plantation as possible.

"This is no place to be doing this!" he lamented to his partner.

"Tell me about it" replied Ikuno evenly.

"Yoooo!" spoke a voice from below him. "Where are the others" asked Miku of the hulking mech.

"We're not sure, currently Zorome, Kokoro, Ichigo, and Mitsuru are unaccounted for" replied Ikuno to her fellow pistil.

Miku's face blanched. Of course it was her partner that just had to go and get lost at a time like this, but also one of her closest friends.

However there was little time to be concerned with things beyond her control. Currently, they needed to calm down the nearby crowd, before this Klaxosaur attack turned into a mass panic scenario.

As she was processing her thoughts, a loud, city wide siren began to sound. As it reverberated though the walls of the plantation all the adults began to move, heading to god knows where, but it was probably safer than their present location.

"They'll be here soon" said Zero-Two. "In a few moments, APE security forces are going to flood this area, let's try not to get caught in the crossfire" she finished.

"Agreed" said Hiro, "But we need to get Goro to safety". Hiro went over to the body of his roommate and confirmed that Goro was still alive, just knocked out and severely injured. With some effort, Hiro collected Goro onto his person piggyback style.

"The last time I saw Zorome, we were a few blocks from here and he was going to head this way, so he's probably not far off, we should prioritize rescuing him first." Ikuno said, formulating a plan that would help them the most.

They all nodded affirmatively, and began heading back down the alley towards Ikuno's last known sighting of Zorome.

* * *

Zorome swiftly dodged the slashes of his would-be opponent, making the Klaxosaur look like a fool for even picking a fight with him. His reaction speed and deft use of improvised weapons was proving too much for one small Klaxosaur to deal with.

 _Hmm, really glad I tried spying on Zero-Two taking a bath in a river that one time, and found her practicing martial arts instead. These moves are too easy!_

Zorome's confidence had slowly been building since he had been blindsided by this monster on his way to find the others. At first he was scared shitless that he was alone face-to-face with this previously unknown breed of Klax, but he soon found it more than manageable.

"You fucked up big time!" He yelled at his enemy even though it couldn't possibly understand him.

This whole time he had been on the defensive, but he knew he needed to end this sooner rather than later or the wrong kind of company might show up. _Alright how do I end this bastard's life?_ He questioned to himself, not sure he could punch a Mech, even a small one, to death.

As he dodged the next attack and kept thinking, he put some distance between himself and his assailant; a move which would quickly prove to be fortuitous. Once Zorome had retreated away from the Klax a good distance, a fast moving projectile from god knows where struck the Klax in the torso, ripping his body in half.

 _That was…uh…unexpected._ Was all could think as he looked around, confused, looking for the source of the decapitating round.

"Target eliminated" reported Mitsuru over Genista's comms channel as he lowered the targeting assist goggles from over his eyes; the sharpshooter Franxx making easy work of the tiny Klax even from a considerable distance.

As Zorome zeroed in on the muzzle smoke from the Rook Sparrow he understood that his teammate had stolen his glory from afar.

Zorome curled his first and stomped on the ground, "It's not like I needed your help god damn it!" he raged at his teammate, "That was my kill you Baaka!" he finished crossing his arms and putting on a sour expression.

Mitsuru wiped the sweat away from his brow. "How annoying" was all he had to say to his partner Kokoro who was glad to find their teammate unharmed by the diminutive monsters assaulting the city.

"That makes ten" said Hachi connecting over the communications link, "Good work securing all the parasites".

"You found everyone?" chimed in Futoshi over the link.

"Yes, Code: 666 was the last to be accounted for, and Code:015 is already coordinating our response from the command center here".

"Pfhew" Futoshi said exasperatedly, leaning back in his Franxx, now able to relax slightly, that his friend had been found safe.

"Will anyone tell me what the fuck is going on!?" yelled Zorome from down below the massive green Franxx which had approached his position.

At the same time, the figures of Chlorophytum and the rest of their group rounded a corner just down the street to see an angry Zorome bitching out the pilot of Genista, although seemingly provoking litle reaction.

Time seemed to slow down as Miku spied the dusty-blonde idiot that she spent most of her time with, bitching and trying to pick a fight as if not one thing was amiss in the world. _Didnt he know what kind of danger he was in? That they were all in?_

Miku walked quickly, but soon broke out into a full scale sprint as their group moved closer to see Genista and Zorome standing over another Klax corpse. As she left the group behind and ran towards her partner at full speed, unable to contain her emotions, she began to cry. _That stupid, stupid boy! What does he think he was doing going off on his own like that?_

As he turned around, Zorome casually spotted his partner. Happy to see her safe and sound and coming towards him he put up his hand, open palmed, to greet her and tell her about his exciting fight. But the high-five he was teeing up was never to be, as he watched in slow motion as her own hand rose up and passed by his own on a direct course for his face. _Oh fuck._

The stinging sound of flesh upon flesh rang out to the surrounding group; the loud clap inducing cringing facial expressions on all present except for Mitsuru, her slap knocking his whole body around and almost to the ground.

After that entire fight and coming out uninjured, Zorome was pissed that his face now felt as if it had been cut open, and by that stupid girl no less. He gritted his teeth, and balled his firsts, ready to show that bitch what a good hit would feel like. But before he even had a chance to raise a hand against his partner, she embraced him in a full body hug, shoving her face deeply into his uniform and sobbing on his chest.

Her words were unintelligible as she heaved air in and out of her body, uncontrollably sobbing and blabbering about the danger he had put himself in, and how irresponsible he was. Zorome was unsure of how to handle the pistil's feelings, not even sure at this moment where to put his hands, eventually settling on her shoulders, as he tucked her in to his grasp.

 _Oh brother, I am in store for one hell of a bitching out when we get back home,_ was all he could think as he tried to calm his partner down, but to no avail.

However his thoughts of home would prove to be immature. As he held his partner in his arms, another Klax of the small agile variety broke out from a dark passageway off of the main road. Too far from his teammates to rely on them to kill it, and unable to use his hands to defend himself, he was a sitting duck for its surprise attack.

As the monster leaped, it revealed a concealed weapon; a long, blue, and exceptionally deadly looking spear. Cocking its arm back to swing, it didn't even bother to conceal the type of attack it was going to use, as its prey was completely unable to defend themselves. As the spear launched from the Klax's hand, Zorome's eyes widened as its trajectory made it clear it was aimed, not at himself, but at Miku.

 _Oh no….._ Was all he could think. _This can't be happening, not her…..why not me you fucking bastard!_ Time seemed to slow down as he turned their bodies as fast as he could to dodge the attack, but it was moving far too fast for that. However, he did have enough time to save at least one of them…..her. As he positioned himself in front of the spears trajectory he grabbed Miku tightly by the waist and shoved her away with all his might, forcing her to the ground as the spear cut through the flesh of his shoulder like a warm knife through butter.

Blood splattered all over Miku's face as she became conscious of her new position on the ground in front of her partner. "Hey! What was that for you jerk…." Realization spreading over her features as she finished.

Her eyes shot wide open and her throat tightened in fear, unable to breathe. She brought a finger up to her face to inspect the thick viscous liquid which had exploded on to her. Brining it in front of her eyes and seeing the voluminous amount left on her body, she let out a blood curdling scream, the type only rarely heard by severely injured animals.

"ZOROME!" She yelled out in agony, as her partners limp body fell into her waiting arms, the spear falling out of his gaping wound as he collapsed on the ground.

* * *

(A/N) So this one was a bit longer, which I hope you liked. I tried all week to edit this to make it flow better, but in the end I decided to get it out on schedule instead of messing with it more. Next week will either be considerably shorter or slightly delayed unless I get a lot of writing juices flowing. I'm moving through a lot of different types of writing, many of which are a first for me, so bare with me if they seem a little oddly written. Keep the reviews up!


	5. Questions and Answers

**2100 Hours, APE Coordinated Time**

 **APE HQ, Earth's Surface.**

Hachi's face appeared upon a giant screen in a dimly lit room. Before him stood a lone man, flanked by seven holograms shrouded in white. His facial features were as stoic as ever, but the timing and location of their transmission gave all the participants a foreboding feeling.

"Status report commander!" demanded the central shrouded figure.

Hachi's voice came through clear, but with a bit of a delay, "At approximately 1400 hours today, at Plantation 13, the inner sanctum of the plantation was suddenly attacked without warning by a force of around 15 klasosaur".

The room gasped, and each figured looked around at the others for assurance that it was as surprising and dreadful as they thought. klaxosaur's often worked in groups, that was nothing new, but coordinated attacks on specific plantation areas was a brand new strategy.

"Thankfully, the local parasite squad was on hand in the city to help put-down the small force as quickly as possible before too many civilians were hurt" Hachi continued.

"Parasites in the city!" exclaimed one the of Councillors. An awful down-turned grimace creeping across his face. "Who allowed such an outrageous breach of protocol?"

"Calm down Vice-Chairman, now is not the time". Spoke Dr. Franxx, trying to keep the conversation on track. He knew that some senior APE officials held near dogmatic positions on the parasites intermixing with the adult population, and Vice-Chairman was one of the highest, and the staunchest.

"...Unfortunately, two of the squad's stamen, Code:056 and Code:666 were harmed in their attempts to defeat the invaders while on their preassigned duties".

"How badly are the hurt?" asked the Chairman, with a hint of concern and sadness in his voice.

"While our medical team is still evaluating the entire situation, Code:056 has only sustained minor abrasions to his left arm, which can easily be repaired with the administration of regeneration factor, however…".

Hachi paused and cleared his throat before continuing, subtly betraying the emotional impact of the news he was about to deliver, "However, Code:666 has sustained a serious injury to his left shoulder, with a foreign object passing through his body and leaving a gaping wound".

If Dr. Franxx was concerned he did a very good job at keeping his composure, "What is the medical team doing for the boy right now?" he asked.

"They are trying their best to stabilize him, and keep any potential infections from worsening the situation, however the limits of the plantations on-site medical team are a severe roadblock to his recovery".

Everyone in the room fell silent, as each reckoned with aspects of this new reality. Parasites were often wounded or lost, but it didn't diminish the impact each injury and death had on the total force and the consequences for the higher leadership when important plantations protected by highly skilled squads fell prey to minor klasosaur sorties.

"What do we know about these new klasosaurs?" asked Lemur, one of the councilors, breaking the groups silence.

"They appear to be a new variety" Hachi reported, "preliminary reports from squad 13 and the local security forces indicate that they are roughly 25% larger than average humans, but considerably smaller than the previously smallest known Conrad-Class".

Dr. Franxx eyes widened at the prospect of a more human-like wild klasosaur variety. His experiments with Zero-Two had provided him with the perfect specimen, but he had hit a dead end trying to work with any other type of klasosaur's genetic martial to create a human like one.

"These new klaxsosaur can move at high speeds, and possess long sword-like appendages they use to slash enemies. However they are lightly armoured and can be taken down without the assistance of Franxx if need be. For the purposes of our analysis we are provisionally classifying them as Richter-Class until more is known about this new type".

"We must report these findings to all the plantations before any more catastrophic attacks like this occur elsewhere!" exclaimed Lemur. As head of the traditional APE security forces, news that these Klaxsosaur could be taken down without Franaxx gave his forces a whole new mandate to fight and win in the war against humanities gravest enemy.

Each Councillor seemed to consider the news of the attack only in so far as it hurt or advanced their particular interests. A unnatural silence fell over the group as they considered the prospects for their various divisions. Only one among the ruling caste seemed to take a keen interest in the actual news of the pilots travials.

"Code:666, he has a rather high parasite number for being in our special forces, why was he assigned?" interrupted Papa, bringing the discussion back to the wounded stamen.

Hachi drew a blank, the Chairman had never previously taken any interest in any parasite other than the 9's and Zero-two. Of course, each and every parasite had a detailed personal file that followed them for life, so any questions could be easily answered.

"It seems like his severe wounds fighting against such a minor threat would indicate he is more of a liability than an asset, would it not?".

Dr Franxx cringed, he had put this team together personally and the purpose of its existence was classified at the highest level. The last thing he needed was the Chairman poking around in the inner workings of his research, when the only fault of the boy was being injured by a new and exceptionally deadly new Klaxsosaur variety.

Hachi brought up Zorome's file and sent it to the Chairman for evaluation as he continued to report on the incident. "Code:666 was observed by the other members of his squad to be injured while protecting the life of his partner Code:390, they both pilot of the experimental Franxx Argentea". Papa nodded along as Hachi attempted to provide the relevant or exculpatory information, that would give him a good impression of why Zorome was on the squad without revealing too much of the doctors plans. "Code:666 admittedly has limited traditional military acumen like Codes 056 and 015, however, he graduated from the Garden with one of the highest combat aptitude scores, and has show unusual zeal for APE unlike others in his cohort" Hachi continued.

Dr. Franxx breathed a quiet sigh of relief at his subordinates deft handling of the politics of personnel selection. He would have to reward Hachi when he returned to the plantation, but for now he would have to settle for the personal yet inappreciable pride the doctor had in him.

Papa smiled as he scanned Zorome's file as Hachi went on with his briefing. He would certainly keep an eye on this stamen in the future. _He has all the qualities of an excellent APE soldier._

"...it is unclear how Code:666 performed against his attacker before he attempted to save his partner", finished Hachi.

"Alright, keep us apprised of the medical situation, I will be traveling as soon as weather permits back to the 13th to look after Code:666 myself" spoke dismissing Hachi, and severing the communications link.

"In a hurry to leave us Werner?" asked the Chairman.

Dr. Franxx smirked, "why would the thought ever cross your mind? I care for the boy, and I think you should too, very few believe in APE as much as he does".

"Don't they all?" he followed up.

Dr. Franxx merely smiled and began walking away, "I'll be back in a week".

* * *

 _ **1100 Hours, APE Coordinated Time**_

 _ **Mistilteinn, Cereuses.**_

Ichigo and Hiro walked along the garden path the led to the greenhouse. It was the only place in late fall that you could go to appreciate nature, as the bright and colorful leafs of fall began to make their yearly migration off of the branches and then slowly get swept away by the wind. A light breeze flitted through the trees and disturbed the otherwise serene calmness of the lake.

Silence had characterized their walk thus far. It didn't seem important to speak as the two life long friends had long since gained the ability to appreciate the others mood without a single utterance. It was something Hiro couldn't even replicate with Zero-Two yet, her essential self still a mystery to him. But with her, it seemed like he never had to worry or try to be anything other than what he was. Ichigo was easy to like, when she wanted to be that was.

"She hasn't left his side in days" She said, breaking the wordless gag order between them.

"Tsk, I knew it wouldn't take long" Hiro replied, averting his gaze from her.

Ichigo stopped, put her hands on her hips, and drilled her eyes into Hiro. "Knew what wouldn't take long?" she said with a tinge of annoyance in her voice.

"Miku is doing her best, she never was the most emotionally resilient among us", he said trying to skip the accusation and go straight to the explanation.

"She needs to give him space to recover, watching him day and night is torture for her" She said with a hint of sadness as she cast her gaze to her feet.

Hiro knew the conflicted emotions going through Ichigo's mind. In the first place she wanted the best for her friend and couldn't stand seeing her hurt, and in the second she felt the need to look forward to Miku and Zorome's ability to form a functioning partnership in the Franxx after he recovered. In the conflicted confines of her mind, she held the strangest and strongest conviction of any of them that things would turn out alright, but this led her to express her feelings through the cold calculation of being their team leader.

Ichigo crossed her arms, and stood defensively. "I know what you're thinking Hiro, that I'm some kind of cold-hearted bitch...".

She went on, but Hiro couldn't accept hearing Ichigo put herself down and suppress her feelings. He reached out and grabbed Ichigo by the arms and pulled her in front of him startling her out of completing her thought.

"You're not a bitch Ichigo!" he yelled desperately at her. "We're all under a lot of stress, but don't pretend like I don't understand what you're going through".

Ichigo was not ready for the assertiveness of her companion, Hiro had been out-going as a child but he had never forced his point of view that much. She was even less ready for the intense feeling of physical closeness with him. Mere inches separated them instead of the polite distance they usually gave one another.

"Hiro…." she couldn't muster many words at the moment, her eyes transfixed on his, precluding her avoiding what he was trying to say, with his words, or with the feeling he wanted to impart on her.

Hiro let go of Ichigo and put his arms down, rubbing her shoulder where he had so forcefully grabbed her for just a moment. Now it was his turn to look away in embarrassment and slight shame. "I know not everyone believes it yet, but we deserve a life beyond the Franxx" he found the confidence to say, "And Miku deserves to be by his side if shes wants, even if it would kill her".

"What do you see that no one else does Hiro? Look around you, there is a ceiling in front of the sky. Don't you think our future here is more important than a dream beyond?".

Hiro had no immediate answer to her question, it was the same one he had wondered about for years, and the exact opposite of the one Zero-Two was asking him nearly every single day with her totally foreign way of life.

"That girl deserves a chance, but we all want a chance…some of us just don't have the luxury of one" she said, giving voice to the harsh reality with which they lived in her eyes.

Hiro almost couldn't bare the conversation any longer. He wasn't mad at Ichigo, not in the least, but at the world that gave his closest friend endless torment just by caring for the welfare of her friends. The world needed to allow for the all too human humans that made it up. If they were fighting to save humanity, why did it seem like the forces that be were always at war against ordinary people's own personal humanity.

Each now stood a considerable and cold distance from each other, their hearts proving insufficient to bridge the gap of feeling between them for the time being. So strange was there physical relationship to one another that even casual observers could tell there was something deeply wrong with the pair.

* * *

"What's eating them I wonder?" asked Mitsuru as he lazily hung out of the door to the greenhouse while Kokoro watered her precious flowers for one of the last few times that year.

"I don't think you need me to answer that Mitsuru" said Kokoro with a soft giggle. As she had come to know her friend better over the last few months of piloting with him, she realized how much of what he said betrayed his true thoughts and feelings on the matter.

Mitsuru shifted back inside of the small glass building on the outskirts of the forest. "I suppose you don't, it's obvious no one can think of anything except for them" he said plainly.

"You almost sound jealous, do you want someone to take care of you too?" she asked teasingly.

Mitsuru scoffed, "I've been hurt before, no one was there then, and I wouldn't expect any girl to tend to me in the future".

Kokoro looked downcast and stopped watering her flowers, "Don't you think I would look after you Mitsuru….I mean...we are partners" she said weakly.

Mitsuru was slightly taken aback, but wasn't too surprised at his kind-hearted partners offer of assistance. After all, he had seen that girl nurse stray rabbits back to health as if they were her own children, her affection came easily and therefore meant little to him, at least that is what he thought most of the time.

"Whatever is necessary we do, whatever is not we ignore, that is the austere life of the parasite"

Mitsuru could tell his life philosophy did not sit well with his partner, as she didn't reply to him and simply went back to tending to her plants silently. He would have scolded himself for being an idiot, but the problem was, no matter how much she didn't like it, he felt it was true.

"You'll make room for someone eventually Mitsuru, I have confidence in that" she said after few minutes in silence, unable herself to bare the intensity of the growing divide between them in that moment.

"And what if I do?" he asked, unsure what type of answer he wanted to hear in reply.

Kokoro felt nervous for reasons she didn't quite comprehend. The hole in Mitsuru's heart was important to her, but up until now only meaningful in the abstract. Nothing he had said or done had given her reason to think he would change any time soon, and so therefore had not thought a lot about what she might do when he actually opened up, or that she would have any role to play at all, believing her would find someone else.

She smiled softly, "When you do, i'll be there for you whether you like it or not, so you'll never be left alone" she replied with a giggle.

"Hmph", he grunted dismissively, "I'll look forward to how annoying that will be, just try not to be as dramatic as Miku". He replied with slight smile.

"I'll try".

* * *

 _ **1500 Hours, APE Coordinated Time**_

 _ **The Boarding House, Cereuses.**_

Ikuno was just beginning to apply fresh bandages where she had taken off the bloody and makeshift ones applied during the initial aftermath of the attack. While many caretakers were around to help, and Nana was never far off, Ikuno had in some ways appointed herself chief nurse to the squad. And while Zorome's condition was far too much for her amateur skills to handle, she took the burden off the rest of the staff by tending to Goro as best she could.

Goro winced as the fresh white cotton disturbed the still very raw skin around where he had been slashed. He tried to use his good arm to soothe it, but Ikuno deftly swatted away his hand from the work she was doing.

"Don't be such a baby, you're not even that badly hurt" she said curtly to him.

 _Oh really? I guess you'd prefer to be in my position then?_ He thought, interrogating her internally. Of course, he couldn't help but be thankful no matter how rough she was with him, she was only looking out for this best interest, and doing so despite their not being any requirement of her.

"You've really held it together for the squad Ikuno…thank you" he said, trying to formulate how appreciative he was.

Ikuno tightened the bandages as she put them on, causing Goro to wince in pain even more, but serving as the wordless acknowledgement of his thanks.

 _God, she's even harder to deal with than Ichigo, and I understand her even less._

"I'm sure you'd prefer Ichigo, but she's not as good with blood as I am" she said, trying to explain herself for no particular reason. Of course she was secretly glad to be depriving the boy of his likely dream to be attended to and cared for my the girl he loves.

Goro turned his head away from her and smiled, "Is it that obvious now?" he asked, bewildered by the speed with which his deepest secrets were becoming common knowledge.

"Painfully." replied Ikuno in a particularly dry and dead pan way. Her facial muscles not budging an inch as she delivered the unsettling news that he was about as subtle as a train siren.

Goro chuckled and hurt himself in the process as the movement irritated his injuries. "I guess I should have suspected that".

"How's Futoshi holding up? It must have been hard for him to see his best friend attacked like that"

Ikuno sighed, she wasn't sure how her partner was to be completely honesty, he had been as mysterious as a ghost since the attack. Unlike everyone else, they were both unwilling transplants and didn't have natural companions to fall back on in times of stress. Of course she wished she could be with Ichigo, but she has disappeared with Hiro shortly after breakfast to take a walk. She knew however, that she could say none of that to Goro in his present condition.

She put on a fake smile, "He's doing as good as he can be, he's just glad he was able to save you before something worse happened". _She lied, it was a lie of the worst kind because it was just true enough to fool you._ The truth however was that as 'good' as Futoshi could be at this particular moment was probably not very good at all.

Sadly or thankfully her lie seemed to have the desired effect. Goro nodded, and laid his head down in peace, convinced of the untruth that things were going well beyond the confines of his own hospital bed. Ikuno, however, would lie her head in shame that night as she went to sleep, if she could sleep at all with the foreboding feeling that the worst was yet to come for the well being of the squad.

As Goro nodded quickly off to sleep in front of her, still unbelievably tired for what he had gone through the last 36 hours, Ikuno merely looked after the object of her admiration. She loved Ichigo, but she admired Goro. Goro was everything she was but better. As smart as her, but more charming, as strong as her, but more resilient, as loving of Ichigo as her, but actually capable of being loved by Ichigo. Yes, Goro really was amazing in the eyes of Ikuno, but it came with so many conflicted feelings, it made her wonder if their were any pure emotions left in human beings, any untainted by the selfish desire to feel one way, but act another. And not matter how long she sat their, attending to Goro, she didn't have an answer.

* * *

(A/N) So, its late, but its not as short as I thought it was going to be because when I sat down to finish it, the story did seem to come naturally. I guess all that procrastinating and waiting for writers block to pass worked out. I hope you enjoyed getting to see a few pairings we haven't done before, or haven't seen much of. As for next week, I'm not sure yet so bare with me. But...you know...if you wrote some reviews to tell me how its going, that might give me lots of energy... just a thought.


	6. Sleeping Beauty

_**0700 Hours, APE Coordinated Time**_

 _ **The Boarding House, Cereuses.**_

Her hair was matted down from built up sweat, there were dark circles under her eyes, her cheeks were puffy and devoid of the bright pinkness the usually lit them up. As Miku stared at herself in the mirror that morning, she realized just what everyone had been intimating, but no one had the guts to say yet, _I look like shit._ She breathed out a heavy sigh. The last few days had been a trial to her mentally, physically, and emotionally; she couldn't imagine a worse curse to befall her than seeing her co-pilot fight for his very life, save for him seeing her in this kind of state.

She turned on the sink and splashed her face with water, it didn't help. She looked almost worse than she felt physically, with aches and sore spots covering every part of her petite frame. She knew she had to clean herself up and get some rest. If she didn't she'd just become another patient for the doctors and nurses to take care of, probably in the bed right next to Zorome's. She wouldn't let herself become a burden to them, or allow herself to take any of the attention away from Zorome's care. had finally arrived and the nurses from the plantation were doing an excellent job of taking care of her partner, she probably didn't need to hold a vigil next to her partner's bed day and night now. Everyone had been coming to her for days telling her the same thing, but she lashed out and wouldn't listen to them. She had been an idiot, _correction...was being an idiot._ She'd have to apologize to everyone at some point for her selfishness, none of the girls deserved it, and neither did Futoshi whom she screamed at for just being a good friend to Zorome. She gave herself a disappointed and contemptuous look, one that she usually reserved for her partner, or anyone else's childish antics. This time, it was herself she was turning on and being ashamed of knowing.

It had been five days since the attack occurred. In that time, she had probably slept a total of 20 hours, taking short unplanned naps as sheer exhaustion caught up with her. She was determined to never let Zorome be without a pair of eyes of him, monitoring his vital signs, his breathing, his heart rate. As she thought back on it, she had to laugh, attention was the one thing Zorome always wanted most, and now that he had been nearly mortally injured, he was finally getting his wish. It was the kind of grim irony that she normally did not appreciate one bit, but couldn't help she didn't laugh she would surely cry her eyes out, if she even had any tears left.

Zerome craved the attention, she theorized, because unlike the rest of them, he was the product of love. In the world of parasites it was well known that 99% of children were conceived from a very selective gene engineering process and born using artificial wombs. This not only circumvented the issue of humanity's loss of reproductive potential, but also allowed the scientists at APE to produce genetically ideal offspring. But there were exceptions to every pattern. Some lineages had not taken any life-extending magma energy infusions, and a rare few were born with a genetic adaptation that allowed them to give birth even in the presence of magma energy.

It was only a suspicion, the kind that becomes a rumor when it's thrown around enough. During their time at the garden, even before she met him, these types of rumors circulated about several people, most were completely unfounded, but in his case, she believed it to be true. Zorome was born from actual human parents who loved him, and it left a psychological mark that can't be erased, not even by the most intense APE interventions. His intense attitude, his desire to be in the sunlight, his inclination towards friends and family above other pursuits; these were all indications that he was born different.

Miku snapped back to reality after having drifted off thinking about Zorome. Whether or not he had parents no longer mattered, as he laid in bed being fed by a tube and being kept alive partially by various medical devices. The 13th was all the family he was ever going to have, or ever know, and there was nothing any of them could do to help him heal faster. As she flipped off the lights in the bathroom and slowly made her way back towards her room she noticed the sun was coming up over the trees, and in the distance she could see where Argentea had been that one night several weeks ago, when she spied on him returning from doing god knows what. It reminded her of a simpler time, when she could expect to wake up the next morning and scold him at breakfast for being a pervert, or tease him about his diminutive height. As she skulked into her room and passed out on her bed for the first time in days, she fell asleep distraught that she could no longer entertain such expectations.

* * *

 _ **0800 Hours, APE Coordinated Time**_

 _ **The Boarding House, Cereuses.**_

"I guess it worked, I saw her walk into her room about an hour ago and she hasn't left since" said Kokoro to Ikuno, as they sat in the main room of the house.

"Hm, I'm glad it did, or she probably would have collapsed of exhaustion at a much less opportune time" replied the stoic purple haired parasite.

Kokoro however, was much more nervous than her partner-in-crime, and had many reservations about what they had done, nevertheless she had played the key role in its success.

For days, the two parasites had been worried sick about the amount of time Miku had been spending without sleep, and eating very little to boot. The normally petite girl had all but become a gaunt twig by the early hours of that morning, and something had to be done. Working in secret, Ikuno had synthesized a sleeping drug out of stolen pharmaceuticals from the doctors store rooms. The plan, which she couldn't even divulge to Ichigo, would require a more approachable, and less suspect individual than herself, and the beautiful and innocent Kokoro would prove to be the ideal candidate.

"I still feel bad that we couldn't be honest with our friend, after all if it came from us don't you think she'd have understood?" asked the gentle blond.

"Understood? She screamed and attacked Futoshi for eating bread when he came to see his best friend, the girl was unhinged, she needed to be taken down for her own good".

Kokoro looked down at her feet, still unconvinced of the rightness of the actions she had taken that morning.

"It had to be you Kokoro, she wouldn't have believed me, we aren't that close" said Ikuno, reassuring the girl and explaining the personal deficiencies of her own that required Kokoro's help.

Ikuno smirked at her own ingenuity, and placed a calming hand on the girls shoulder "what's wrong with giving your friend a little snack, a little snack that just happened to be packed to the brim with enough somnifacient to knock out a horse?".

Her words did not soothe kokoro's conscience, in fact, they arguably contributed to her continual heart palpitations. _Perhaps I should just shut up,_ thought Ikuno trying not to dig herself a deeper hole.

Just then, several of the boys entered the room from the kitchen discussing the condition of the very girl in question. Goro, Hiro, and Mitsuru seemed to be sharing whispers between themselves, trying to hide whatever they were saying from Ichigo who followed them in not far behind.

"I hope those pills you dissolved in the water we got Ichigo to give her don't knock her out too hard, we don't want her to be asleep forever" said Hiro to Goro, who had since recovered enough to move around the house.

 _Sleep?_ Did she hear them right, _pills….._

Ikuno inched closer to try an eavesdrop on exactly what they were saying to each other on the other end of the room. Her hearing was average at best, but if she could get the right angle on them she could read Goro's lips.

"The boys pique your interest for once Ikuno?" asked Ichigo, distracting her from hearing the rest of the conversation.

Hearing Ichigo put it like that made her blush slightly, and she gave Ichigo a shy smile as she tried to answer her, "I...uh, just thought I heard them say something strange".

"That lot?" Ichigo pointed at them with a faux confused look on her face, "saying something weird? Color me surprised".

Ikuno was startled by Ichigo's sarcastic remark, and equally surprised that her of all people would have a sense of humor at a time like this.

She scratched the back of her much like Ichigo's blonde partner when he was in an awkward situation. "So what were you all up too this morning?" asked Ikuno, trying to change topics as quickly as possible.

Ichigo put her fingers on her chin and looked up slightly, "hm, we weren't doing anything together honestly, but when I got back from the gardens, I found them arguing over who would bring Miku something to drink. They are just so weird sometimes, I figured id save Miku the trouble and take it to her myself".

"Did you try the water yourself?" asked Ikuno pointedly, trying to assess what kind of trouble she might be in store for.

Ichigo only gave her a weird yet serious look, "Of course not, it's just water", she leaned into Ikuno's personal space, probing her facial features for a clue as to the origin of that oddball question, "should I have?".

Ikuno was having an excruciating time trying to keep herself composed as to not let the tangled knot of their two plans become known to Ichigo. It was made even harder by Ichigo's sheer physical proximity to her, something which made her uneasy in the best of situations.

Ikuno started to giggle, _this is bad,_ she thought. Although it was unknown to virtually everyone, Ikuno had a nervous laugh. Most people didn't know about it, because she was almost never nervous.

Kokoro, who had been watching this slow motion train wreck from the couch they had been sitting on was conflicted. She knew she had to save her friend, but which one. The poor Miku, who had been tricked by practically everyone she trusted, or Ikuno, whose valiant effort to keep it a secret, was buckling under the pressure of lying to their notoriously stern leader.

In the end, she decided to save the only one she actually could, the pathetic soul in front of her. She moved briskly to come to the aid of her violet haired accomplice. As she walked up too Ikuno she placed a hand on her companions shoulder and started laughing as loud as she could, even if it sounded fake.

"HA HA HA, I know, still pretty funny, right Ikuno?", she said, putting her meager acting chops to the test.

For her part, Ikuno was deeply confused. But as the grip on her inexorably tightened, she felt the otherwise kind eyes of Kokoro boring into the back of her head, trying to implant and entirely new thought in her brain.

As Ikuno continued to laugh, she tried to speak between fits of giggling, "Yes, HA HA, classic Mitsuru am I right?".

Kokoro gave her a sideways glance for her choice to improv topic, but had no choice but to continue now that her co-star had gotten the gist of their performance. "Yes, always doing…that uh..thing he does..with his uh...feet".

Ichigo was thoroughly put off by whatever it was she was seeing. Unsure if it was a stress reaction, or some kind of prank. _What the hell...feet?_ Was all she could think as her fellow pistils descended into madness before her.

On the other side of the room, the stamen of the 13th bantered back and forth about the ingenuity of their plan. Hiro, the only one to express any reservations about the plan, was trying to dissuade the other two from trying anything of the sort in the future again.

"We shouldn't do that to Miku, she deserves more kindness than we are giving her in this situation".

Goro looked at his friend with a pitying look, "This is kindness, she was going to hurt herself if we didn't intervene".

"Exactly" chimed in Mitsuru, "I saw her when Zorome was attacked, she hasn't been the same person since she looked up at Zorome guarding her with his body"".

Hiro had to admit, he felt that they were acting for the right reasons, but this felt an awful lot like something Zero-two would do. He loved his co-pilot, but even he recognized she crossed barriers that should not be crossed with alarming frequency.

Just then, Futoshi entered into the living room from the kitchen. He was tossing something small into his mouth, much like pieces of popcorn. As he approached the stern looking group of fellow stamen, he called out to them, "Hey guys, what's with the serious looks?" he asked casually.

As they turned to him, they gave an even more concerned expression, "What exactly are those things you are eating?" asked Goro.

As he continued to flick them into the air and catch them with his mouth, "Just some candy I found in a jar next to the sink".

Mitsuru stood up and slapped them out of Futoshi's hands, "You idiot! Do you think everything is food?" he raged, at the revelation of his fellow parasite.

As the little round balls spilled across the floor Futoshi went into a fury "What they hell man! What did you do that for you bastard?" he asked as he yanked Mitsuru up by his collar.

Hiro and Goro sprang into action to make sure a fight didn't break out between the two again, pulling Futoshi off of Mitsuru, and holding them back from one another. "Get off me!" Futoshi roared, "He just smacked them out of my hands, what are you defending him for?" he asked in exasperation.

Mitsuru gave him an arrogant look, "Those aren't candy, they are sleeping pills you dumb ass" he said with venom in his voice as he straightened out his uniform, "if you had kept eating them, you would have fallen into a coma".

Futoshi gasped, shocked at the revelation, and now giving his stomach a despairing look. The commotion also garnered the attention of Ichigo and the girls on the other side of the room.

"WHAT!" was all that could be heard out of their indigo haired captain. The depth and tenor of the utterance at complete odds with her small frame.

She looked to Ikuno, who now had her hands up in front of her in total surrender, "So the water…", she turned to Kokoro, "and the snacks…". Her mind now racing to connect the dots between the disparate events and conversations she had been having. When it finally clicked she was beyond furious, her face turned a shade of red that even Goro had never seen.

She turned to the group of stamen now petrified by her mere gaze, as if she were sizing up the dimensions for their coffins. "Is there anyone in this room who hasn't drugged Miku today?" she asked with condemnation in every syllable.

Futoshi, now free from the grasp of Goro, raised his hand. Although before she could even respond to his gesture, his eyes rolled up in his head and he collapsed.

"Oh for fucks sake!".

Ichigo now charged out of the room, intent on going to make sure her friends idiotic plans hadn't put Miku to bed for good.

"And put his ass in a bed before he hurts himself of the floor!"

Ikuno breathed a sigh of relief, when the 100 lb gorilla that was their fearsome leader, left the room. She figured at that moment, that she too would make her escape, and not show her face around the house for the rest of the day. But as she attempted to stealthily exit the room while they were helping Futoshi to his feet, she was not given such an easy victory.

"That was a pretty sly plan" said Zero-two as Ikuno made it through the door into an adjacent hallway. The pink haired girl had been waiting there for a while, listening to the commotion from the other side.

Ikuno Froze, _the one person I didn't expect, damn it._

Zero-two approached her and sniffed the air around her deeply. "I always knew there were some secrets that you were keeping, I bet you wish you were better at keeping them though" she said snickering playfully.

"I guess you would know, you're plenty full of secrets yourself" replied Ikuno.

Zero-two smiled, she always had been impressed by Ikuno's ability to match her wit-to-wit.

"I just wonder, what other drugs you know how to make, seems like an odd skill for a pistil" asked Zero-two, continuing her investigation of the usually mild mannered girl.

"Oh you know, just this and that" she replied, not ceding an inch to Zero-two's curiosity.

"Don't be like that" she said crossing her arms, "I really wanna know, I might need something".

Ikuno scoffed at her antics, they may work on the likes of Hiro, but they would never work on her.

"Like what?" she asked, sure that Zero-Two wouldn't know the first thing to ask for.

Zero-two moved in very close, right next to Ikuno's cheek, her lips mere centimeters from Ikuno's, "How about a love potion?".

* * *

 _ **1200 Hours, APE Coordinated Time**_

 _ **APE HQ, Earth's surface.**_

"Recent events at the 13th Plantation have rendered the local unit unable to provide a full spectrum of defense to its citizens. As a result of the unique situation there, your unit will be temporarily assigned to fill in for them".

A young woman, with green hair cut in a bob scoffed. "Isn't that usually the duty of Unit 26, they are the closest to the plantation, there is no reason to pull elite troops off the front line for guard duty".

"The 26th is busy with their own affairs, do not question the wisdom of Papa with this assignment".

Another young man interjected, "Seems like the front line is shifting, wars aren't always fought and won against the enemy you can see, sometimes it's lurking in your own backyard".

"Insightful as always Alpha, your keenness is clearly not shared by many of your siblings" replied the man, glaring at the group before him.

"Take a lesson from your captain, and learn to use this as an opportunity to serve Papa in every capacity. You will be on station for a few weeks at least, observe the squad, and report back any unsatisfactory information to me personally".

The group of nine parasites stood to attention and accepted their orders. They all had eager grins on their faces, it had been a long time since they had all been together in one location, and now they were heading to secure the last pilot for the reunion.

"It's time to come home sis, we've been waiting a very long time" murmured Alpha to himself, a evil grin adoring his features.

* * *

(A/N) You may be wondering why this Zoro/miku love story doesn't have much of either of them in it. But fear not, more of that will be coming in the future. Its hard to write their romance directly because of who they are as people and how they convey their emotions. So for now, ill let the rest of the cast do the heavy lifting. I'd like to thank you all for being such loyal readers of my story, I know I must annoy you with my shifting schedule, but I promise to never be more than a few days late.


	7. Vignette

He fell through the darkness, not fully weightful, but not quite as if he was floating. The last thing he had seen was the terrified look in her eyes, the last thing he heard was the deafening roar of a cannon alongside the frantic beat of his own heart trapped within his head. Everything was calm now, the nothingness around him allowing him to rest, or at least he thought he was resting. He had given thought to the end, considered his own mortality, but had decided that if anything would come after life, it would surely not be this. Everyone talked about the end, but none of them had ever considered what might come after; it was just too much to bear to consider your own death, let alone fathom the consequences. God he wished he wasn't gone, he had so much left to do; so many things left to say.

What would he say? When he woke up, if he woke up, would it all go back to normal, all go back to the way things were? That didn't sit well with him. He ached at the thought of his last battle being a loss, cringed that Hiro would inevitably surpass him. His fists tightened in rage the more he thought about what he would leave behind, how much of himself he would leave behind. He was a winner, a champion, the greatest! And anything short of that would be a failure, he would be a failure. She would reject him, move on from him, forget him. The blood in his veins boiled and he trashed in the void. What he wouldn't give for one more fight.

He stopped, and laid motionless; it was futile to do anything in his present state. He laughed, it was so tragic it was kind of funny. Here was the most ambitious, talented, renegade parasite to ever pilot a Franxx, and how does he get taken out? Not even in his machine, he's cut down in front of the silliest girl to ever wear a military uniform. My life for hers; my everything for her who knows what. He started to weep, and laugh, and scream all at the same time. He didn't know what to think or how to feel. He was as lost with his thoughts as his body was lost in this place.

Eventually he calmed down enough to clear his horse throat, and open his bleary tear stained eyes. A small pale blue dot, bathed in faint white light appeared a great distance in front of him. He was transfixed by this new entity taking over his vision; he couldn't look away even if he tried. It was new, and yet when he gazed upon it, it seemed very familiar to him. When he looked at it, he couldn't feel a single bad emotion, it gripped his soul warmly and wouldn't let go. After a while it became obvious that he was moving towards the pale blue dot, and that the distance had previously obscured its true nature as a much more fascinating moving object. As he came closer, new details seemed to emerge spontaneously. It wasn't just blue, but many other earthy shades, and it didn't move, but rather what was on the object was moving.

He had little control over how he approached the object. He tried swimming, or walking through whatever substance or space he was enveloped by, but try as he might, he moved towards it at the same pace and in the same direction no matter what he did. This became mildly concerning as the object now loomed large, covering most of his field of vision. What has even more concerning though was what the object had become. It spooled out like a movie projector in front of him, a cinemaesque scene, but through a first person perspective. Soon despite his struggles and protests his vision became its vision, and all the blackness faded away.

* * *

He was standing in line, staring at the back of the person in front of him as he heard the faint sound of counting. _385, 386,387,388,389….390._ His hand uncontrollably shot up, he could feel it even if he had no agency over his action. His vision turned to see a tall man dressed in a white cloak and a mask that covered his eyes and extended far above his head. The mans lips moved but he could make out no distinct words, only that this man had been the one counting. Eventually he turned back and the counting continued, and continued, _550,551,552,553,554,555….556._ His head snapped again to look far down the line of people. They were parasites, or rather parasites in training, wearing the type of dress he used to wear as a little kid, lined up for as far as the eye could see. Suddenly his vision was engulfed by an angry adult with a raised hand, he couldn't make out her words, but they were loud. As her hand moved with the obvious intent to hit him he tried to raise his arms to block, but to no avail, he was paralyzed. As the slap around the face came closer he resigned himself to the pain and closed his eyes to flinch, but nothing ever came.

When he opened his eyes he was sitting in front of a large desk. A woman, another adult, was sitting behind it sternly speaking to him in the same muffled tones as nearly everything and everyone else. He listened inattentively for what seemed like forever, he almost fell asleep, until he heard a powerful scream come from off in the distance. The adult's head turned, and so did his to an open door only a few feet away which seemed to enter into a grey hallway. Loud bangs and animal like noises added to the chorus of sounds as it became clear several people were fighting and struggling.

What he saw next deeply unsettled him. As the sounds came to crescendo, he could feel the intensity of the space as they awaited learning what all the commotion was about as whatever it was, crossed in front of the open door. And what he saw was not possible. His eyes feel open a small boy, a boy so familiar to him, he could not mistake him for anyone else. He saw himself.

Writhing for control between two adults, he kicked and punched and screamed, he even tried to bite one of them to no avail. It was surreal, how could he see himself somewhere else? He was in this deep black void, or maybe he was in this char, but he certainly wasn't the one fighting those two adults. Even more mistitifying was that he was looking at a much younger version of himself, barely even 10. He would have called out to himself, but he was silent, and soon the door was slammed shut. He heard the adult left in the room speak to him again, the only word clear to him being 'devil', and nodding his head up and down as if to wordlessly assent. The adult then proceeded to open the door again, but instead of a grey hallway, it opened into blackness. Nonetheless his body moved of its own volition, got up off the chair, and walked into the blackness as if nothing were amiss.

* * *

"You heard him right?" he heard a girls voice ask.

"No, she SAW him" said another.

"Wow, it's a miracle your alive" chimed in a third.

 _She? What the fuck? I am clearly a man you dumb little children._

"What are you guys talking about?" asked an eerily familiar voice.

They scoffed and giggled, "Haven't you heard of him 556?".

He couldn't see her, but he could tell she was apprehensive, "Heard of who?" she asked in response.

"The devil!" all three of the other girls replied in unison.

556 yelped, scared of such an evil sounding being, and took a few steps back from the others.

"They say he's half feral animal" one said.

"No, it's even worse, he's half Klaxsosaur" another corrected.

"He'll kill you if you make eye contact with him" she continued.

"Yeah, they feed pistils who misbehave to him as punishment".

556 was terrified at this point and had fallen back onto the ground, or at least that's what it sounded like. He was hearing all of this like voices in his head amidst the eternal darkness.

Then he heard it, her.

"Pfft, as if guys, stop scaring Kokoro with your nonsense gossip, it's not even remotely true".

It was Miku's voice, for sure. Although it was slightly higher pitched and more childish than he remembered, even for the Miku he knew.

Just than, an image of a young Kokoro sitting on the ground and an outstretched hand appeared before him. He tried to look around to find Miku, but just like before he had no control over how his body moved or what it looked at. Once she had stood up, his eyes turned to look at the young group of pistils that he had heard before, none of which he recognized.

"He's not a devil, he's just a crybaby" said Miku, although he did not see her among the group of girls and did not see her anywhere around them.

"I could take that bastard anytime I wanted to, and i'd never let him hurt any of you" she continued, as if speaking directly into his head, her voice having no apparent direction nor drop in volume from distance.

The girls continued to talk, he could see their lips moving, but no sound came out. Slowly the image of them began to fade, and they began to melt away before him, but it had no apparent impact on them, as if they didn't even know they were disappearing from existence. _This is getting really weird_ was all he could think about the increasingly bizarre things he was seeing.

* * *

 _Black again, how original,_ he thought as the ubiquitous black returned and didn't seem to immediately turn into anything else. What kind of dumb afterlife was this where he lived the disembodied experiences of some strange young parasite. Worse than that, he was having auditory delusions of Miku, and visual ones of a young Kokoro. If he ever woke up he really needed to see a psychiatrist about his minds odd choice in unconscious imagery.

He began to feel a burning sensation in his hands, a sharp and almost unbearable feeling as if a knife was being slowly plunged into them. _I take it back, i'll have the delusions, this is not an improvement._ But wishing had no impact on the sensation. Soon his eyes opened onto a much more recognizable scene, he was piloting a Franxx, or on more careful inspection, a Franxx simulation machine. In front of him was a small girl in a plain Pistil uniform with long pink hair, and was clearly experiencing the same kind of pain he was in.

Her chest was heaving as if she was desperate for breath, she was sweating profusely, and yet she was holding on. She wouldn't take her hands off the controls, or yank the ones attached to her hips away from him. It felt like a thousand Franxx were hooked into his body and he was trying to control all of them at once. It was the kind of electrical feeling you got when you first connected, but as if the disequilibrium would never end. Something like that would kill any normal pilot, because of the necessity of equal input from pistil and stamen, but somehow they were both enduring it for much longer than anyone could hope.

The pain was almost unbearable but eventually it began to fade and turn into the energized flow of two expertly synched parasites, however this would not last long as the connection broke down. A loud alarm rang and the girl collapsed into her seat in the Franxx. A team of adults opened the cockpit and ran in to unseat her from the machine and strip her of her pilots uniform, she was unconscious. He couldn't see her face, but his heart began to beat unreasonably fast. He was overwhelmed with the desire to reach out to the brave girl whom he had been piloting with, her determination was unbelievable. However, for not the last time that day, he was frustrated by his inability to move his arm or effect his world in anyway.

He was alone for a moment before another recognizable face appeared before him with a beaming smile.

"Good work 666" spoke the deep and reassuring voice of , "you'll get the hang of it eventually.

 _666? That was his number. What on earth was happening now. Was he viewing something through his own eyes now?_

"Who was that girl?" He asked, sure that whoever was speaking it must have been him to Dr. Franxx as there was no one else around.

"Curious? That's new" Dr. Franxx said with a light chuckle. "She's just another pistil, not worth your time really" he finished.

"But she held on for so long doctor, more than any other!" he said emphatically to him, desperate to see her again, or learn more about her.

"No, she didn't hold on longer, you held off for longer 666", he said with a proud smile on his lips, "I don't know why yet, but for some reason your power was brought down an immense amount when you piloted with her, I'm sure with the proper training, you'll be able to replicate the results with a much more suitable co-pilot".

As the world faded to black once more, he couldn't help but feel a pain in his heart. _Who was that?_ He wondered, unlikely to be given any answers. These...whatever he was experiencing, never lasted that long, and left him with many more questions than answers every time. At this point he just wanted them to end. If he had to float in endless black like he had been until he either died or woke up, he would prefer that to any more of these confusing delusions.

* * *

"He's beautiful don't you think?" he heard a feminine voice say.

"Beautiful?" another voice said, "he's an abomination".

The female voice gasped at the suggestion. "How could you say that about our own son?".

"They'll kill us and him if they ever find out!" he said in rising anger, "I love him more than anything in the world, but he is endangering our lives, and won't live a very long one of his own if the authorities ever find out" he finished.

The woman began to weep quietly, "what can we do?" she asked.

"We'll take him to the garden, I can easily hide him there by blending him into the mass of artificial humans, they'll just think his paperwork went missing" he replied, laying out his plan.

"But..but that means he'll grow up a parasite! He could die before he even makes it that far, and he most surely will die in those barbaric units they use to defend the plantations".

"Any price he pays there will be the cost of him not being immediately executed here" he replied, "We have to give him the best chance we can, and he has the chance to live a good life there, if he is even half as great as we think he is, he'll be the greatest pilot ever and honored all over the world".

"When will you do it? I want to spend at least one night with him before he has to leave forever" she begged, desperation clear in her voice as if her heart were being ripped in two.

"I'll start off tomorrow, i'll tell them I have to take an unplanned trip to inspect the garden, they won't think twice" he replied.

"What should I do?"

"It'll be hard, but you must try and act as normal as possible or they will suspect something. I know it will be unbearable for you, but go to work, smile and laugh, don't give them any reason to suspect what happened, it is our son's only hope".

She nodded her head unable to form words as she sobbed and tried to hold in her screams and tears.

* * *

 _ **1100 Hours APE Coordinated Time**_

 _ **The Boarding House, Cerasus.**_

He blinked several times, his eyes were incredibly dry, his mouth was incredibly dry, everything felt dry. He needed water, and a lot of it, It was all he could think about.

"Wa…" damn it was hard to form the words, almost as if he forgot.

"Wa..ta" he tried again, still not quite getting it right, _fuck._

He wiggled his fingers, he tried picking up his arm but it was of little use, he could barely lift it off the bed before it flopped back down.

"I...nee...waa" more and more was coming, but just not enough.

Suddenly the sound of a book hitting the floor and a gasp could be heard nearby. He tried speaking again, sure that someone might hear him now.

"Wa...ter" was what he was finally able to have sputter out of his mouth, sure that was his limit at this particular moment. Thankfully for him, it seemed to be enough, as water finally touched his lips moments later after considerable commotion.

What began as a slow sip he soon turned into a full on guzzle as he gulped down glass after glass as he begged for more and more water.

Once he was finally done, whatever angel was providing him with the cool crisp water he so desperately desired wiped his lips clean for him.

"Zorome?" asked the voice tentatively.

After travelling through whatever he had been going through for so long, he was so glad to hear a familiar name, his own name.

He opened his eyes to see the violet strands of hair and glasses that framed the gentle face of Ikuno. Even if they weren't on the greatest terms he was ecstatic to see her, it was proof that he wasn't dead. He knew he would go to heaven, and in his heaven, there would be no Ikuno.

He began to giggle, and it soon transformed into a full blown laughing fit. He was so thrilled to be alive, he skipped right past happiness and went straight to unbridled joy.

"HAHAHA, Zorome enters the fray! HAHA".

He was alive. He was alive!

* * *

(A/N) Gomen, Gomen. It took me a while to develop how the story was going to progress from where I left it. I knew I wanted to do something different then what I had been doing to explore Zorome's psyche and also to keep in interesting for you guys. I hope the ending isnt too corny, I wanted to get it in somewhere, and I knew that it would be very him to wake up from a coma with a line ready.

Next chapter shouldnt take as long as this one, but who knows!

Thanks for all your continued support!


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